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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179144">Get It? Got It</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatojuicee/pseuds/tomatojuicee'>tomatojuicee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Boyz (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>All of the above - Freeform, Crack Treated Seriously, Eric as the script writer, Fluff, Holidays, Humor, Hyunjae as Juyeon's stunning costar, Jealousy, Juyeon and Hyunjae shoot a ton of porn, Juyeon as the actor, Kevin as the omnipresent studio founder and director, M/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn, Porn with Feelings, Sunwoo as the annoying (glorious) roommate, Younghoon as the makeup and costume designer, i do not claim to make any realistic portrayals of the adult film industry in this fic!, porn studio au, this is only for shits and giggles, totally inaccurate portrayal of the porn industry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:40:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,320</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28179144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatojuicee/pseuds/tomatojuicee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin steepled his fingers. "So we're thinking about doing a holiday special series with Juyeon and Hyunjae. Fans have loved them together so far.”<br/>“Hyunjae!?” Eric protested.<br/>“Come on, the fans have been welcoming him with open arms,” Kevin said, “And probably open legs, if they could,” he added with a snicker. “He’s becoming one of our most popular actors.”<br/>Eric pouted. He knew that Kevin was right, it was just that he hated writing Juyeon and Hyunjae scenes. He let his shoulders fall as soon as he got outside of Kevin’s office.<br/>Eric Sohn was the Head Writer of Get It? Got It Studios. The only writer.<br/>And just what kind of films did Get It? Got It Studios produce? Adult Films. Male Homosexual Pornography. Gay porn.</p><p>The Porn Studio AU featuring head writer Eric, switch super-star Juyeon, newbie Hyunjae, perpetually thirsty Younghoon, a healthy dose of jealousy, and a whole lot of holiday cheer.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Younghoon/Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae, Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae/Lee Juyeon, Lee Juyeon/Son Youngjae | Eric</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>355</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Get It?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Happy Holidays everyone! This idea came about from the purple neon sign in Eric and Juyeon's studio.. you all know the one ctfu<br/>Originally this was going to be a oneshot but it got long so enjoy this first part while I get the second part up before Christmas, I guarantee it!</p><p>Disclaimer: This is not serious AND this is not an accurate portrayal of the adult film industry.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Eric, writers meeting in my office!”</p><p>That was the voice of Kevin Moon, Founder, Owner, Director, and Chief Cinematographer of Get It? Got It Studios.</p><p>“Coming!” Eric called. That was the voice of Eric Sohn, Head Writer of Get It? Got It Studios.</p><p>Eric gathered his notebook from his desk and made the fifteen pace journey to Kevin’s closed door office. He knocked once before swinging the door open and pulling out the seat right in front of Kevin’s nice, big, Owner’s desk.</p><p>“Hey Ric. Right, so we’ve got everyone we need for the meeting?” Kevin greeted.</p><p>Eric looked around the office, empty other than himself and Kevin and a couple raunchy posters on the wall facing the door. “Should we call Younghoon in for this too?” Younghoon was the Clothing-Makeup-Props-You-Name-It Manager.</p><p>Kevin thought about it but shook his head. “No need for now. Let’s get started, then.”</p><p>Eric nodded, readying his pen. </p><p>Kevin steepled his fingers. "So we're thinking about doing a holiday special series with Juyeon and Hyunjae. Fans have loved them together so far.”</p><p>“Hyunjae!?” Eric protested, “But he’s still relatively new. Are you sure it’s a good idea to put our cards on him for a whole series? Especially for the holiday season?”</p><p>“Come on, the fans have been welcoming him with open arms,” Kevin said, “And probably open legs, if they could,” he added with a snicker. “He’s becoming one of our most popular actors.”</p><p>Eric pouted. He knew that Kevin was right, it was just that he <em> hated </em> writing Juyeon and Hyunjae scenes.</p><p>“Not to mention, Juyeon’s chemistry with him is incredible,” Kevin went on. “The views on their videos are astronomical.”</p><p>“But won’t fans get bored of seeing Juyeon bottom in every video? Won’t they want to see him switch?”</p><p>Kevin shook his head. “The thirst for more Hyunjae and Juyeon scenes is way bigger than the thirst for Juyeon as a top... for the latter we’ve already filmed plenty of stuff with him and Chanhee or Changmin.”</p><p>“Hmph.”</p><p>“Anyways, I was thinking we could do a four-parter. A film for each of the major holidays during the holiday season. Of course we would release them as each holiday comes on the calendar. Do you think you could start working on ideas?”</p><p>Eric still had a frown on his face but he nodded.</p><p>Kevin smiled brightly. “You’re the best, Erigi! We’ll follow up in a couple days, alright? And could you grab Jacob and tell him to drop by my office for a second when you go out? Thanks! You’re the best, Ric!”</p><p>Eric let his shoulders fall as soon as he got outside of Kevin’s office. Eric Sohn was the Head Writer of Get It? Got It Studios. The only writer.</p><p>And just what kind of films did Get It? Got It Studios produce? Adult Films. Male Homosexual Pornography. Gay porn.</p><p> </p><p>Record Scratch.</p><p>Freeze Frame.</p><p>Yup, that’s Eric. You’re probably wondering how he ended up in this situation.</p><p> </p><p>Eric had begun his adult life with the purest, best of intentions. What he’d <em> really </em> wanted to do was become a surgeon. But after slogging through four years of undergrad as a pre-med student with a major in Communications (because apparently these days med schools wanted to see students with ‘diversified’ focuses and interests) and then doing a year as a medical scribe while he studied for the MCAT, Eric came to the realization that while performing life-saving surgery sounded great in theory, doing everything else to get to that point was actually terrible in practice. He resigned from his position at the local hospital and burned his MCAT practice books in a dumpster while Sunwoo stood guard with a fire extinguisher in hand like a real G. And then suddenly he was just 23 years old and unemployed with a useless Communications degree from a bottom tier UC school.</p><p>It took two months of bumming around on the couch in the living room of the apartment he shared with his bestie-since-freshman-orientation Sunwoo to have his moment of realization. To get straight to the point, Sunwoo watched a lot of porn. Not always to get off, sometimes it was seemingly out of pure boredom. Eric had gotten so used to coexisting with the lump of flesh he had the unfortunate privilege of calling his best friend that he didn’t even bat an eye anymore when Sunwoo whipped out his dick on the couch on your typical Monday night. Eric would just roll his eyes, drop a few lines of trashtalk about the tacky dialogue and plot, and then head into his room.</p><p>Eric’s lightbulb moment, however, came when Sunwoo was watching a particularly bad porno about a pizza delivery man with a piping hot, extra large delivery for a busty girl and her boyfriend, who ended up spending 95% of his screentime getting cucked. Eric had been following the epic loosely from the kitchen when suddenly the delivery man’s dick was stuck through the center of the pizza and Eric had thrown his hands up and exclaimed “Porn writers are so awful, even <em> I </em> could come up with something better than this.”</p><p>Sunwoo had removed his hand from his dick, and looked Eric straight in the eye. As if struck by lighting, they both exclaimed <em> Eureka! </em> at the same time and Eric had immediately opened sexyjobs.com on an incognito window, and, long story short, ended up at Kevin Moon’s joint, where he’s been happily employed as Head Writer since.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>“Good news for you,” Eric grunted, dropping back into his desk.</p><p>“Huh?” Younghoon looked up at Eric from across their desks. The studio ‘office’ was not very big. There were technically only five staff members: Kevin, Eric, Younghoon, Haknyeon, who was their lighting and stage tech man, and Sangyeon who acted as a producer of sorts. Although Sangyeon had been showing up less and less as of late and Eric could tell he was on his way out, trying to transition into a more.. reputable position in the real film industry.</p><p>“Your new favorite is getting four more scenes before the end of the year.” Eric said.</p><p>Younghoon lit up. “Hyunjae? Oh my god, for the holiday series this year?”</p><p>“Yep,” Eric popped the ‘p’.</p><p>“God, he is such a fine piece of man,” Younghoon rambled on, “I have no idea how Kevin casted him but I think I owe Kevin my life- wait, who is he partnered with?”</p><p>Eric soured. “Juyeon.”</p><p>A knowing look came over Younghoon’s face. “Ooooh. That’s why you look so put out.”</p><p>“Shut up,” Eric sniped. “It’s not because I’m jealous, it’s just because I <em> hate </em> writing their scenes. It’s so hard! Hyunjae has the personality of a loaf of white bread!”</p><p>“What I’d give to have that loaf in my oven,” Younghoon said, and Eric made a face before Younghoon returned to the topic at hand, “And I didn’t say anything about <em> jealousy </em>, that was all you.”</p><p>Eric twisted his face up and folded his arms together. “Well, I was just making things clear.”</p><p>“Suuuuure,” Younghoon said. “Y’know, Juyeon seems pretty sweet on you too. Maybe if you actually <em> told </em> Juyeon about your feelings, you wouldn’t have this problem anymore-”</p><p>Younghoon was interrupted by Haknyeon shouting out greetings from across the office: “Hey Juyeon!”</p><p>Eric whipped around and speak of the devil, leaning against the doorway and making small talk with Haknyeon was Lee Juyeon, the beginning, middle, and end of all of Eric’s fantasies, romantic and sexual alike. He was just wearing a Clipper's hoodie, jeans, and some old beat up trainers, but Eric wanted to do horrible, horrible things to him.</p><p>“Yep, I was just dropping in to review the script for my scene with Chanhee tomorrow,” Juyeon said to Haknyeon, looking and sounding like an angel. Then he raised his head and found Eric across the room. “Youngjae, do you have time right now? I want to make sure I’m clear about some of my cues.”</p><p>Eric sat up straight. “Of course! Why don’t we go out to the set and we can review everything together?” He shoved a thumb towards the direction of the film stage. “Let me just finish up this one thing for Kevin-”</p><p>“I’ll just wait outside then, thanks Youngjae! And by the way, I tried the taco truck that you recommended the other day, it was amazing! We should go together next time.”</p><p>Juyeon disappeared around the corner and Eric was met with Younghoon’s shit-eating grin. "Thanks, <em> Youngjae </em>" Younghoon repeated, sickeningly sweet. </p><p>“I don’t want to hear it from you and your gaping hole,” Eric hissed, and Younghoon just cackled.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>“And Kevin wants me to write four whole scenes for them! Four! I can barely do one without wanting to rip out all of my hair! I don’t get what’s so great about Hyunjae anyways, why do our viewers like him so much?” Eric was hanging over the back of the couch, listing out his grievances as Sunwoo pored over his books on the living room floor.</p><p>“Uh, he’s hot?” Sunwoo said. “He’s a top only, right? I mean, I wouldn’t mind switching it up just for him.”</p><p>Eric groaned. “Sunwoo! You’re supposed to be on my side!”</p><p>“I can’t help thinking with my dick!”</p><p>“And that’s why you’re failing this class,” Eric gestured to what Sunwoo was working on.</p><p>“Hey, is that any way to talk to a future prosecution lawyer? I’ve made it further in higher education than you have, med school dropout.”</p><p>“Technically, I never even made it to med school,” Eric corrected. “Plus, you told me yourself when we were piss drunk that one time that you only decided to go to law school because you were good at debate in high school.”</p><p>“No, it’s because I’m truly passionate about the pursuit of justice!” Sunwoo squawked. “Are you doubting my passion?”</p><p>Eric rolled his eyes. “Yes. I’ll give you another year, tops.”</p><p>Sunwoo squinted. “I don’t know why I put up with you. You’re like a sandy, dry old witch prophesying bad fortune on people because you haven’t gotten your dick wet since that Lambda party sophomore year.”</p><p>“We do not speak of that Lambda party anymore,” Eric hissed. “And I get more than you! At least I’m not watching porn every day like it’s the 8’oclock news!”<br/>“Yeah, you’ve leveled up to writing it now,” Sunwoo quipped. “Really, when are you gonna man up and go for this Juyeon guy? I’ve seen him in action, you know, he’s got the goods and it’s only time before someone else snaps him up. Like Hyunjae, maybe... they’ve got incredible chemistry-”</p><p>Eric snatched a cushion off the couch and used it to cover his ears. “Is that the only opinion that anyone has for me today!? That Juyeon and Hyunjae have good chemistry!? Why God? Why!?”</p><p>From the ground, Sunwoo shrugged. “I’m just saying.”</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>The first holiday on the chopping block to be properly, thoroughly, gayly defiled was Thanksgiving. Eric had presented an amazing spread of ideas only for Kevin to end up choosing:</p><p>"Hyunjae is a PETA solicitor advocating for vegan Thanksgivings who knocks on Juyeon's door with the slogan "<em> Imagine it was YOU getting stuffed for Thanksgiving. </em>"'</p><p>“On the bright side,” Younghoon said from Eric’s side as Haknyeon and Kevin adjusted the lights around their set, “I didn’t have to prepare any pilgrim costumes this year.”</p><p>Eric cringed. He hadn’t been around for their <em> last </em> Thanksgiving scene, but he’d seen the clip. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”</p><p>As things stood, Juyeon and Hyunjae had shown up in their own clothes for the most part. Younghoon sewed a couple patches onto Hyunjae’s hat and chino jacket to make it look like he was a member of PETA, but otherwise it was light work in the costume department.</p><p>Presently, their actors were shooting hoops at the basket that belonged to the neighbors in the cul de sac they were filming at. Eric’s hands itched to play despite his scrawny height. Kevin lived in one of those townhouse type units and whenever the studio had to film a situation that called for a residential efface, he bravely (recklessly, if Eric had any say in it,) offered up his place. It looked more or less like a small suburban residence if they picked their angles right.</p><p>“If you glare any harder, Hyunjae might evaporate off the face of this earth,” Younghoon said.</p><p>Eric redirected his glare to Younghoon. “Shouldn’t he be practicing his lines,” he stuck a finger towards the offending man.</p><p>“What about Juyeon, he’s playing too?”</p><p>“Juyeon always gets his lines right,” Eric said. It was true. Juyeon was a stone cold professional. Too good for Get It? Got It to be honest.</p><p>“Maybe cause he loves and cherishes the writing-” Younghoon cut himself off. “Look, I’m gonna do you favor.” He cupped his hands together and yelled, “Hyunjae, stop running around for a second, I need to take in your pants!”</p><p>Hyunjae froze mid-shot with a pout and let the ball bounce to the ground. “This is like the third time.”</p><p>“Well, you know what the viewers like,” Younghoon lamented, as if the viewer in question was not Younghoon himself. Eric snorted.</p><p>Hyunjae gave a sigh and nudged the ball with his foot over to Juyeon before trotting up to Eric and Younghoon.</p><p>Eric admitted that Hyunjae was quite stunning up close. Today’s shoot didn’t call for much makeup or especially styled hair but he was quite handsome today, and, to Eric’s eternal annoyance, quite tall as well.</p><p>“Your foundation is starting to run!” Younghoon exclaimed, acousting Hyunjae’s temple with a tissue and getting all up in his space.</p><p>“Uh, sorry, haha,” Hyunjae laughed nervously. “Wearing makeup is still new to me. I forget about the rules sometimes.”</p><p>Younghoon huffed. “I forget that you’re new to all this sometimes. No worries! I can give you a refresher on <em> anything </em> you want to know.” Eric retched.</p><p>Hyunjae grinned brightly. “Thanks so much man! I’m so lucky to have you in my corner!”</p><p>“Youngjae!” Juyeon called from beneath the hoop. He palmed the basketball and raised it over his head with only one hand. Eric tried not to think of other uses for that skill. “Come play since Younghoon stole Hyunjae away from me!”</p><p>Younghoon winked surreptitiously at Eric who begrudgingly felt some gratitude towards the bedazzled beanpole.</p><p>“Coming, Juyeon!” Eric ignored the way Younghoon’s eyebrows wiggled as if to imply the double entendre in his words and caught Juyeon’s pass on his way to the hoop. He went for a lay up, crossing his fingers that the week-long unit of basketball that he had in PE in middle school would somehow give him the muscle memory required to make a basket.</p><p>No such luck. The ball hit the rim and bounced out. Juyeon collected the ball from the ground while Eric collected his pride, also from the ground.</p><p>“I was never much of a basketball player,” Eric chuckled.</p><p>“Your form is so good though!” Juyeon exclaimed, surprised.</p><p>Eric gave Juyeon a push. “Quit joking around.”</p><p>Juyeon giggled. “I’m not joking! You’ve got a naturally athletic frame so it’s no surprise.”</p><p>“Oooh, you’ve been checking me out, mister Lee?”</p><p>“Occupational hazard,” Juyeon replied easily, pushing a hand through his hair. It feathered and exposed his forehead for a couple seconds before floating back down to earth, strand by strand. “But really, if you want to play ball you should come with me to the YMCA on Saturdays. It’d be fun.”</p><p>“And finally see what workouts to do at the gym to look like a pornstar?” Eric laughed. “Okay, I’ll think about it.”</p><p>They played for a bit before: “Alright,” Kevin’s voice blared through a megaphone he inexplicably used for every shoot despite their crew consisting of under ten people at any given time. “Ready for Scene One! Actors to your places please!”</p><p>Eric got behind Juyeon and pushed him towards the doorstep by the small of his back. “Showtime, baby!”</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>“Excuse me, did you not read the sign on the door, it says no solicitors- oh, hi.” Juyeon swings the door open to put a stop to the incessantly ringing doorbell.</p><p>Standing at the doorstep is Hyunjae, clad in pants and a t-shirt two sizes too small and a jacket with a PETA patch sewn temporarily on. He gives a smirk as his gaze runs over Juyeon from head to toe. “Hello sir, I’m a member of PENIS- I mean PETA, and I’d like to take a little bit of time to discuss your plans for your holiday <em> activities </em>.”</p><p>“What do you mean by that?”</p><p>Hyunjae pushes his fake glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Well, here at PETA we’re committed to ending cruelty against animals, and that means putting an end to the needless mistreatment and slaughtering that the industrial farming sector inflicts on trillions of animals every year. And Thanksgiving is one of those times of the year where young men like yourself might find themselves craving some meat.” Hyunjae slows down and drags out his delivery at the ‘meat’ line.</p><p>Juyeon visibly swallows. “You could say that.”</p><p>“But PETA would like to encourage you to go vegan this holiday season.”</p><p>Juyeon frowns. “I don’t think I can do that, I’m pretty fond of filling myself up with meat.”</p><p>Hyunjae arches a salacious smile. “I can believe that. But think of it this way: Imagine <em> you </em> were the one being stuffed for Thanksgiving dinner.”</p><p>Juyeon leans against his doorframe. “I’m not sure I understand. Could you maybe show me what you mean?” His eyes drop meaningfully to Hyunjae’s tightly tailored pants. “Give me a hands on demonstration?”</p><p> </p><p>Ten minutes later and Hyunjae is stretching Juyeon out against the oven inside the house, taking his precious time to prepare Juyeon for stuffing.</p><p>Hyunjae is three fingers deep in Juyeon's wet, slick hole as he grunts, "Are you ready for your seasoning?" and reaches for the conveniently plug shaped salt shaker on the counter-</p><p>"Cut- cut!" Kevin shouted through his megaphone.</p><p>Hyunjae removed his fingers from Juyeon’s ass (Eric let out a breath he didnt even notice he was holding) and Juyeon took his leg from off Hyunjae’s shoulder to stand with both feet on the ground once more.</p><p>“Sorry, did I get my cue wrong?” Hyunjae asked.</p><p>“No you were good Hyunjae-” Kevin said.</p><p>“Perfect-” Younghoon chorused from behind the director.</p><p>“-But fucking against the oven isn’t gonna work. The handle is digging into Juyeon’s back and the angle looks awkward on camera and Juyeon looks uncomfortable. Eric! Head Writer! We’re gonna have to change the script on the fly!”</p><p>Eric stepped on to the set with a nod. “Sure.” Juyeon <em> had </em>looked uncomfortable, it wasn’t just Eric’s imagination. There was a little red stripe across Juyeon’s back where it had been rubbing against the handle and it made Eric frown. “Right, so let’s see...” He looked around Kevin’s tiny little kitchen for other options. Meanwhile, Haknyeon shuffled around the lights and Sangyeon turned his attention to the shot list they had pinned on Kevin’s wall, right next to the Beyonce posters and Escher prints.</p><p>“It’s alright,” came Juyeon’s voice. “I don’t want to put too much work on Youngjae’s shoulders to come up with a change, I can just control my expression.”</p><p>Eric whipped his head around. “Are you crazy? That’s gonna fuck up your back!” Juyeon was still in the nude, cock half-mast as he leaned against the counter while Younghoon powdered his forehead. Eric had seen his body countless times but he was never any less stupefied. Meanwhile, Hyunjae had covered up with a bathrobe.</p><p>The corners of Juyeon’s mouth tugged up. “My back can take a lot of abuse, believe it or not.”</p><p>Some of the others snickered. “Ugh, you know that’s not what I meant.” Eric crossed his arms. “Anyways, I’ve got the solution. We can just have you sit on the counter and Hyunjae can eat you out. And then you can use the ‘I don’t think my ass is vegan’ line.” Eric found himself becoming quite the sex choreographer in the past year.</p><p>Kevin snapped his fingers. “That’s perfect! Alright Juyeon, ass on the counter. So first it’s eating out, and then the salt shaker.”</p><p>Juyeon beamed at Eric as he hopped up on the counter. “Youngjae, you’re a genius, you know that?”</p><p>“I try my best,” Eric puffed his chest out. “Couldn’t have you out of commission this Saturday for basketball at the Y’.”</p><p>“Enough flirting on set and let’s get the camera rolling,” Haknyeon yelled, turning one of the hot studio lights on Eric.</p><p>“Fuck dude, that’s bright!” Eric yelped and hopped out of the set. Once he was safely standing next to Haknyeon and behind the lights, he hissed, “And we were <em> not </em> flirting.”</p><p>“Suuuure,” Haknyeon said, mostly to himself. Eric sighed. It was a total lost cause.</p><p>Something occurred to Eric. “Hey Hyunjae, when you reach for the salt shaker switch your line to ‘You taste amazing but you could use some more seasoning’!”</p><p>“You got it!” Hyunjae grinned before his smile disappeared between Juyeon’s legs and Eric had to divert all of his brain power, once more, towards not turning green.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>The Thanksgiving Special turned out to be an enormous hit, especially because it was spoofing an actual PETA ad that went viral, and so the first days of December rolled around happily for everyone at Get It? Got It studios.</p><p>Well, for almost everyone.</p><p>“This is never gonna work!” Eric growled, crumpling up his paper and chucking it at the wall. It was blank of course- Eric wrote all of his scripts on the computer, he was a child of the digital age after all, but it was the symbolism of the action that mattered to him. As a writer, he knew all about symbolism. Actually, that was a load of bullshit. He definitely wasn’t that kind of writer.</p><p>“How’s the script coming along, drama queen?” Younghoon called from the other side of the office. He wasn’t at his desk because he was working at his mini sewing station in the corner of the room. Eric could barely see him over the piles of traditional korean fabric heaped up on his worktable.</p><p>“Awful,” Eric whined. “Remind me again why Kevin wants to do a scene for the Lunar New Year?” The studio had a sizable Korean audience. It wasn’t surprising considering all of their actors were Korean American. Kevin thought it would be a great idea to give them a little nod by filming “Get It? Got It’s very own historical kdrama!” as one of the holiday specials. Lunar New Year was actually in January, but the team decided to use the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas to shoot the scene. That way they could finish up the project before Christmas and New Year’s and take some restful time off without the thought of another shoot hanging over their head. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”</p><p>“Neither do I,” Younghoon grumbled, rustling his nest of fabric as if to emphasize his point.</p><p>“At least your dad is loaded, what is he, a banker?”</p><p>“Financial analyst,” Younghoon corrected.</p><p>“Whatever he is, you’re set for life, it doesn’t matter if this obscure traditional Korean porno scene flops or not.” Younghoon was <em> rich </em> rich, but other than the Gucci belts, he kept it on the downlow. And his parents were chill enough to let him do what he wanted, so all in all, a lifestyle in the top 1% of Eric’s covetations.</p><p>“Trust me I want it to do well but-” Younghoon started.</p><p>“-You’re not really sure who’s gonna watch it other than our subscribers from Korea,” Eric finished.</p><p>Younghoon sighed. “Exactly, like, I don’t know.. I mean, I appreciate the sentiment though. It’s niche but it might reel in some, like, kdrama fans or something.”</p><p>“So you, basically.”</p><p>“I didn’t say that.”</p><p>“Don’t act like you didn’t marathon Hwarang because V was in that drama,” Eric said.</p><p>“And what if I did?” Younghoon replied, nose in the air. “Seriously, if I was in a boygroup I would slip in my number in one of those Inkigayo sandwiches and have him take me out for dinner and fuck the shit out of me. He’s <em> gotta </em> be into guys.”</p><p>“Thanks for the inspiration,” Eric said dryly, “I’ll try to incorporate that fantasy into a script in the future.”</p><p>“We could have Hyunjae play V and Chanhee play me,” Younghoon added, gesturing with one hand as if he wasn’t running a piece of silk through the sewing machine at light speed with the other.</p><p>“Do I want to know what kind of idea I’ve walked in on?” It was Juyeon.</p><p>“No, unless you’re a member of the ARMY,” Eric remarked.</p><p>“Oh, Juyeon, you’re here, great!” Younghoon exclaimed. “Do you mind trying these on for fit?” He handed Juyeon a pair of loose fitting white pants, the kind that they would wear in ancient times in Korea.</p><p>“Just finished up my workout- Oh, sure. Thanks Younghoon.” Juyeon proceeded to unbuckle his belt and drop his pants right there in the middle of the office. Eric could have spoken up and reminded him that they had dressing rooms for a reason, but he decided to just keep quiet and enjoy the sight.</p><p>“What are the rest doing right now, anyways?” Eric asked instead.</p><p>“Sangyeon, Haknyeon, Chanhee and Changmin are on the film stage working on the set right now.” It was nice of Chanhee and Changmin to help out even though they were busy with their own solo videos to shoot for the holiday season.</p><p>“What about Jacob?”</p><p>Juyeon made a face. “He’s in Kevin’s office.”</p><p>The circumference of the Earth wasn’t big enough to properly describe the circle that Eric’s eyeballs made as they rolled.</p><p>“I know right,” Juyeon said. “How are things on your end?”</p><p>“Writing a script that’s partially in Korean is impossible,” Eric dry sobbed. “Kevin basically wrote my death sentence and then left so he could get pounded- no, check that, he told <em> me </em> to write it myself.”</p><p>“Rough,” Younghoon said. “Juyeon, is the waist alright on those?”</p><p>“Yeah, they’ll work.” Juyeon replied. “Not like they’ll stay on for long.” He took them off and tugged his jeans back on. Then he took a chair and pulled it around to Eric’s side of the desk. “Lemme take a look. Maybe I can help.”</p><p>That’s right, Juyeon had lived in Korea until college. Actually, he could be Eric’s guardian angel here. The light at the end of the dark tunnel. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The orgasm at the end of the cock ring.</p><p>“Hmmm,” Juyeon vocalized, snapping Eric from his reverie. “So I’m the prince and Hyunjae is my servant?”</p><p>Eric cleared his throat. “Yeah, that’s the idea.” He didn’t mention that he’d made Hyunjae the servant out of spite.</p><p>“The servant fucking his master. A classic reversal of roles.” Juyeon said.</p><p>“Yep.” Eric said once more.</p><p>“I’ve always thought that trope was pretty hot,” Juyeon said casually, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms behind his head.</p><p>“Yeah?” Eric wiped his palms against his techwear pants.</p><p>“Yeah.” Juyeon confirmed. “I can translate some of the Korean parts, if that helps.”</p><p>“That’d be great!” Eric said, relieved. “Also, give me feedback if you think anything feels <em> too </em> wrong. Like beyond our creative, pornographic license. You probably know more about ancient Korean culture than me.”</p><p>“Of course,” Juyeon replied.</p><p>“And if you have ideas of your own, feel free to contribute.”</p><p> </p><p>Eric and Juyeon sat shoulder to shoulder and worked on the script until the sun went down. In that time, Hyunjae came inside the office several times for fitting, Haknyeon came inside the office several times to make sure the set they were building would work with the script, and Jacob probably came inside Kevin several times, fortunately unseen and unheard by Eric.</p><p>By now some of the staff had gone home. Sangyeon was still typing away at his desk, dilf spectacles teetering precariously on his nose. Younghoon continued working on the costumes. Traditional Korean attire must be a big challenge, Eric thought. His colleague definitely had a lot on his hands, all due in less than a week. Sitting next to Younghoon was Hyunjae who had arrived about an hour ago and was trying to make himself useful by pinning patterns to the fabric, but mostly he was getting in the way. Younghoon wasn’t making any effort to chase him away, of course.</p><p>On Eric’s side, Juyeon had been really, really helpful with the script. He had lots of great suggestions to make, which on one hand made Eric’s job much easier, but on the other hand wound him up because Juyeon was coming up with these ideas for a scene with <em> Hyunjae </em>.</p><p>“Do you think it’s done?”</p><p>Eric scanned through the document on his laptop and hummed. “I can’t really think of anything else- we’ve got everything we need.” He snorted. “The <em> kum </em>sahabnida line is a nice touch.”</p><p>Juyeon laughed. “Yeah, that was all you though.”</p><p>“Nah, I wouldn't have thought of that if you weren’t holding my hand through the Korean. My brain would have been stressing out over everything else.”</p><p>Juyeon beamed. “Well, I don’t know how helpful I really was but I’m glad I could lend a hand at least once. You’re always working so hard on our scripts.”</p><p>“You basically wrote half the thing!” Eric said. “Seriously, I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I owe you tacos or something, you spent half your day on this.”</p><p>“Well, I can’t turn down tacos.”</p><p> </p><p>Eric let Juyeon go home to get his beauty sleep, but before he left the office himself he figured he’d get feedback on the script. Kevin was nowhere to be found so he went to Sangyeon.</p><p>Sangyeon pushed his glasses up his nose after he was finished reading. “I think Kevin will like it,” he said.</p><p>“Yeah?” Eric said hopefully.</p><p>“Yeah.” Sangyeon confirmed. He paused. “It’s a lot more sensitive than most of our plots,” he offered.</p><p>Eric frowned. “I can try and get some more sleazy one-liners in there.”</p><p>“Oh no, it’s not a bad thing,” Sangyeon clarified. “I understand, it’s probably harder when you have to consider another language.”</p><p>“Exactly,” Eric agreed in relief. See, this is why he liked Sangyeon. Understanding, quiet, good judgement, and never fucked his coworkers during work hours. It was really too bad that he was looking to move on.</p><p>“You and Juyeon worked on it together, right?” Sangyeon asked.</p><p>“That’s right,” Eric told him.</p><p>Sangyeon looked at the script once more and began nodding slowly. “Makes sense.”</p><p>The way Sangyeon intoned the words seemed to imply another layer of meaning but Eric had no idea what it would be. He was just glad to get this script from hell off his computer and into the hands of the actors.</p><p> </p><p>It was only when Juyeon was stripped down and getting pounded into His Royal Highness’s bed sheets as Hyunjae nosed down his jawline to suck at his jugular under the blinding studio lights that Eric regretted not revising the script to make it less romantic and more comedy. If Eric thought there was nothing worse than watching Juyeon get it on with Hyunjae to the cheeseball scripts he’s written, he’d never had to watch Juyeon get it on with Hyunjae to the script that he and Juyeon had written <em> together </em>.</p><p>By the time they wrapped, it was already a late night and Eric couldn’t have been more grateful for the martini shot. He gathered up his things quickly, ready to go home and rant to Sunwoo, when a big hand on his shoulder caught him outside the film stage.</p><p>“Hey Youngjae, I was just wondering-”</p><p>Eric turned around. “What is it Juyeon?” He was still feeling prickly and downtrodden and his response probably could have been more friendly.</p><p>“-if I could redeem those tacos you promised this Friday?” Juyeon finished. “Before we start pulling our hair out for the Christmas shoot.”</p><p>Did Eric say he was feeling sullen? Because he wasn’t. At all. He was light as a feather. “That’d be great! I bet we can sneak out of work early too, it’s not like Kevin will notice.”</p><p>“So it’s a date?” Juyeon asked with a smile. “-I mean, not like that, a friend date, of course.” He quickly amended.</p><p>The lightbulb inside Eric’s chest dimmed considerably at that, but he still chirped back with all the pep he could muster: “It’s a date!”</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>The door to Eric’s apartment, sporting about fifteen Sunwoo induced scuffs too many, pushed slowly in, guided by Eric’s hand. Eric glanced back at Juyeon. “Let me just go inside for a second and check that my roommate hasn’t set off a bomb in there.”</p><p>Juyeon smiled sweetly. “No problem. I’ll wait out here.”</p><p>Eric nodded thankfully and slipped inside. Once inside he closed the door and leaned against it like he’d just bought time from facing a life or death situation. In a way, he had. It was 8pm on a Friday night. He and Juyeon had snuck out of work early without hearing a peep from Kevin and got tacos at the truck Eric had recommended to Juyeon way back in September. Then Juyeon had suggested milkshakes, but Eric was the only one to get one because Juyeon had to keep his six-pack camera ready. And now they were at his apartment, extending their friend-date to a house tour and a movie.</p><p>“What’s bitten you?” Sunwoo asked from the dining table.</p><p>Eric groaned. He forgot all about Sunwoo. What were his chances that his roommate <em> wouldn’t </em> expose him tonight?</p><p>“I’m having a friend over,” Eric replied, keeping his voice down.</p><p>Sunwoo arched a brow up. “I thought I was your only one?”</p><p>“Shut up, I’m a social butterfly.” Eric said, eyes falling on the dishes stacked up on the counter next to the sink. He pointed towards them violently. “Put those in the dishwasher out of sight, and I don’t want a fucking <em> word </em> out of you when I let him in.”</p><p>Sunwoo looked mildly intrigued but did as he was told. “Alright, but I’m only humoring you because this sounds like a potential blackmail opportunity.”</p><p>Eric hurried to the shelves around the tv and straightened out everything. One of Sunwoo’s anime titty magazines was laying on the couch and Eric threw it into his roommate’s face. “Do something about this!”</p><p>“Oh, thanks, I was looking for a study break,” Sunwoo replied, slipping the magazine into the opening of his textbook. He propped his textbook upright so only the outside cover was visible from the living room. “Problem solved.”</p><p>Eric rolled his eyes in disgust and headed towards the door. “Behave yourself,” he hissed one more time, and then opened the door with the smile of an angel. Running a hand through his hair, “Sorry about that, just wanted to straighten some things out. Come on in.”</p><p>“No need to apologize,” Juyeon said as he stepped in.</p><p>As Juyeon entered the apartment, the sound of a billion sheets of paper taking flight came from the dining table. Eric turned to see Sunwoo, vocab cards in a state of disarray, giving the biggest shit eating grin he'd seen in his entire life.</p><p>"Sorry about that, butterfingers," Sunwoo began, wriggling his fingers. "I'm the roommate, Sunwoo, by the way."</p><p>Eric sighed. "Juyeon, Sunwoo, Sunwoo, Juyeon. Juyeon is a <em> friend </em> from work," Eric introduced, giving Sunwoo the death glare. </p><p>"I've heard a lot about you," Sunwoo crowed.</p><p>“All good things, I hope,” Juyeon smiled.</p><p>“Of course!” Sunwoo said. He started gathering his cards up. “I’m gonna study in my room now but nice meeting you Juyeon!”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, nice meeting you too, Sunwoo.” Juyeon’s raised hand hung in greeting while Sunwoo left the scene, but not before shooting Eric a lewd look. Eric rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Hyung, I’ll get the laptop and set up Netflix. What do you want to watch?”</p><p>“You choose Youngjae! I don’t have a preference,” Juyeon called as Eric disappeared into his room to get his Macbook.</p><p>When Eric came back into the living room, Juyeon was standing in front of one of the shelves. Juyeon turned around with a smile. “You collect these?”</p><p>He was referring to the baseball player bobbleheads lined up on the shelf. Eric felt his face heat up. “Um, yeah, haha.” Maybe others considered collecting a bit nerdy, but Eric adored his bobbleheads. “They would give them out sometimes when my parents took me to Dodgers games when I was a kid and it kinda just stuck.”</p><p>“They’re cute,” Juyeon beamed. “You played until college, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, when did I mention that?”</p><p>Juyeon’s eyes wandered up the far wall. “Uh, during that locker room shoot in June, I think.”</p><p>“Really? I can barely even remember back to June, it feels like the last few weeks alone have been a whole year.”</p><p>“Tell me about it.” Juyeon gave Manny Ramirez’s head a little push, sending the thing bobbing. “So what movie do you want to watch? Pick one of your favorites.”</p><p>“You sure? What if you end up not liking it? Not that that would happen, because obviously I have the best taste, but,” Eric said.</p><p>“Then I’ll pick next time,” Juyeon said, settling onto the couch.</p><p>Next time? “Okay, you pick next time!” Eric exclaimed, hopping onto the cushions next to Juyeon.</p><p> </p><p>Eric ended up going with one of his all time favorites, If Only. So he was a sucker for cheesy romance films, sue him. The thought crossed Eric’s mind briefly that he and Juyeon were literally engaged in Netflix and chilling, but they kept it PG with so much space on the couch between them that it would satisfy a parent chaperone at a middle school dance. Well, it wasn’t like Eric expected anything more to happen in the first place.</p><p>Predictably, Eric’s face was a wet, sniffling mess by the end of the movie.</p><p>“Do you need tissues?” Juyeon giggled. “I knew you were a big softie.”</p><p>“Shut up,” Eric said, bottom lip wobbly as hell, “I caught you wiping your eyes when Ian got into the cab too.”</p><p>“You got me there,” Juyeon admitted. It was quiet for a moment and then Juyeon spoke up again: “Have you ever thought about writing a screenplay like that?”</p><p>“Huh? You mean like <em> If Only </em>?”</p><p>“Yeah, a romantic drama.” Juyeon said.</p><p>“Oh, no way,” Eric dismissed. “I bet it would be fun but it would be way too tough.”</p><p>“Really? I bet you’d be great at it.” Juyeon said. “Your scripts are quality, you know. And you seem to have a romantic streak.”</p><p>Eric felt himself blush. “I write<em> porn scripts </em>, Juyeon. I’m pretty sure that’s the opposite of quality and romantic.”</p><p>Juyeon pursed his lips and pouted. Eric nearly died. Expressive actor as Juyeon was, he had never pulled that expression out at work before, on or off camera. Tall, dark, handsome, and add cute to the list too. “So does that mean that just because I do porn, you don’t think I’m a good actor?” Juyeon asked.</p><p>“NO!” Eric blurted. “No, of course not!”</p><p>Juyeon laughed. “Same goes to you then. I’d love to watch a romantic drama written by you. Maybe someday..?”</p><p>“Maybe,” Eric said. “But for now I’m up to my eyeballs in festive fucking scripts, so I gotta give you a raincheck on that one.”</p><p>They talked a bit more before Juyeon got up to go. Eric moved to get the door and Juyeon grabbed his jacket from the hook to pull it on and suddenly, ”Hey, Youngjae, thanks for tonight.”</p><p>Juyeon was way closer than Eric expected. Eric’s heart leapt into his throat as he clutched the doorknob for dear life. “Thanks for helping me with that script,” Eric replied, because that was the whole reason for the excursion in the first place.</p><p>Juyeon blinked. “Any time,” he finally said, voice lower than usual, taking a step away from Eric so that he was right inside the doorway. “So, uh, see you on Monday.”</p><p>“See you on Monday,” Eric replied softly.</p><p>“No working over the weekend, okay?” Juyeon said, taking another step backwards into the hall.</p><p>“You too,” Eric said, leaning just out of the doorway, still holding onto the door knob.</p><p>“Bye.” Juyeon waved, walking down the hall still facing backwards.</p><p>“Bye,” Eric echoed. “Good night Juyeon.”</p><p>“Good night Youngjae.”</p><p>And then Juyeon turned the corner and was out of sight. Eric withdrew from the doorway, closed the front door, and collapsed against it again. What was with that atmosphere? It was his first time seeing that side of Juyeon and he had no idea Juyeon could get that..-</p><p>“Okay Sohn, I see you, finally making moves.” Sunwoo was out of his room the second Juyeon left, as if he had some kind of creepy sixth sense for the presence of hot men in their apartment.</p><p>“We’re just friends!” Eric snapped out of his weird mood and exclaimed. “Juyeon even said, ‘like a friend date’.” Eric put the works in air quotes.</p><p>Sunwoo rolled his eyes. “Yeah, cause friends totally watch <em> If Only </em> on Friday nights together.”</p><p>“Um, they totally do!” Eric defended. “Plus, there’s no dating in the workplace.” He rolled his eyes even as he said it.</p><p>“Pfft. Aren’t you always going on and on about how you’re scared to go into Kevin’s office because you’re sure that he and Jacob are always fucking in there?”</p><p>“Yeah, but Kevin can’t fire himself because he’s <em> literally the boss </em>.” Eric said. “I don’t get immunity.”</p><p>Sunwoo snorted. “Sounds like a load of bull to me. By the way, he’s hotter in real life.”</p><p>It took Eric a beat to realize Sunwoo was talking about Juyeon. “I know, right? Wait no, I mean-”</p><p>“Got you there, just admit you wanna smash!” Sunwoo cheered.</p><p>Eric collapsed on the couch. “He’s just so perfect,” He lamented.</p><p>“Oh, and if all of your actors are better looking in person you have <em> got </em> to introduce me to Chanhee. No, check that, Changmin. Wait, no, I can’t choose!”</p><p>“Don’t you have some laws to study or something? Fuck off!”</p><p> </p><p>But as Eric lay on the couch, marinating in the events of the last few hours, he really had to wonder, could it really count as a friend date?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Got It.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> It's the most wonderful time of the year~ </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Michael Buble (Canadian pride!) serenaded through Kevin's cheap Macbook speakers. It was a commendable and yet completely futile attempt to keep the crew's spirits high. Whoever wrote that song lied. Christmas was <em> not </em> the most wonderful time of the year. Their shoot had been going on for six hours already, Eric was running on three hours of sleep, and he was dressed in a sagging purple leotard. </p><p> </p><p>Here’s a rundown of the key events of the last 24 hours:</p><p>1.</p><p>All ten employees of Get It? Got It Studios had assembled yesterday at 9 AM to kick off their big day of shooting for the Christmas themed scene. Eric was honestly rather proud of the script he concocted for Christmas. It was a parody of The Nutcracker, with Hyunjae starring as the titular role and Juyeon as the Sugar Plum(Cheeks) Fairy. To be honest he had rudimentary knowledge of The Nutcracker at best, but their viewers didn’t care as long as they got shots of Juyeon’s erection through translucent purple tights. (Younghoon: At least I didn’t have to prepare reindeer costumes this time.)</p><p>2.</p><p>2 PM: The shoot was going well, almost suspiciously well. Changmin, Chanhee, and Jacob appeared as ‘back-up dancers’ in the ‘plot’ part of the video before the sex got started. It was mostly shameless ass and chest shots of Juyeon in a super short tutu and low cut leotard as he made his way through the Land of the Sweets, giving oral fixation realness. Eric received some pretty suggestive looks from Younghoon when they reviewed that part of the script, but Juyeon seemed to really enjoy all the biting and licking.</p><p>3.</p><p>6 PM: The crew had wrapped in good spirits and gone home. So far so good, right?</p><p>4.</p><p>9 PM: Eric’s daily ritualistic Twitter scroll on the couch was interrupted by a phone call from Kevin.</p><p>“Bad news, I’m <em> so </em> sorry Eric.”</p><p>“..What is it Kevin?”</p><p>“Well I was looking through the footage from today and..</p><p>“What is it, you’re scaring me.”</p><p>“..The footage corrupted. We lost over half of our shots.”</p><p>“..Shit.”</p><p>“I know. We’ll have to reshoot tomorrow.”</p><p>“Did you let everyone else know?”</p><p>“I’m calling everyone else now. And Eric, I’m sorry, I need another thing from you.”</p><p>“..Yeah?”</p><p>“I think Chanhee is too tall to play one of the faeries, we’ll need someone shorter to do it.. And we need Hak to operate the lights on set.. You’re our writer so technically you don’t have an on set role when we’re shooting..”</p><p>“Really? Me?! You want <em> me </em> to be an extra?!”</p><p>“Please Eric?”</p><p>“Kevin..”</p><p>“You can change the script however you want so that you have the most minor role! Just please, we need you to make it work!”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“Please? The studio is counting on you.”</p><p>“..Fine.”</p><p>“I love you Eric, you know that right? And don’t forget, you have to be on set by seven for costume and makeup!”</p><p>5.</p><p>3 AM: Eric closed his laptop and turned off his lights, finally done editing the script.</p><p>6.</p><p>6 AM: Only to open his eyes what felt like a blink later, alarm blaring. God, he had no idea how Younghoon and the actors dealt with getting up so early.</p><p>7.</p><p>9 AM: After two hours of sitting in a chair dozing off as Younghoon stuffed him into his faerie leotard and painted contours and highlighter onto his face, Eric stumbled onto the set. He was gonna kill Haknyeon later for all the cat-calling, and kill Kevin even <em>more</em> for getting him into this in the first place. Why did Chanhee have to be so tall? He didn’t <em>look</em> like he would be tall at all!</p><p>8.</p><p>...Which brings us to the present, with Eric gritting his teeth to keep his balance as he sashayed behind Jacob and Changmin. His calves were cramping up, he was getting pins and needles in his toes, the stage lights burned and his sweat was making his foundation run, his tights were itchy, and Chanhee’s leotard was too damn big for him because Younghoon didn’t have the time to make sizing adjustments.</p><p> </p><p>“Cut!” Kevin yelled.</p><p>Eric collapsed in relief. “My calves are <em> killing </em> me,” he whined loudly.</p><p>Somehow Juyeon was by Eric’s side in a blink, dropping to his knees to take a look at Eric’s legs. “Tell me if it hurts,” he said, and then started massaging one of Eric’s calves.</p><p>“Ouch!” Eric yelped immediately. He could literally feel his muscle tissue being crushed, cell by cell, in Juyeon’s hands. He tried his best not to think of other uses for that skill.</p><p>“Sorry,” Juyeon said.</p><p>“Be gentle!” Eric admonished.</p><p>Juyeon winked. “I can be gentle or rough, whatever you like.”</p><p>Eric gave him a cuff on the ear, face furiously red. “You know that’s not what I meant.”</p><p>Juyeon was dressed in gloriously semi-opaque tights, perfect for showing off the muscle definition in his unfairly long legs. Younghoon had managed to procure two dance belts for Juyeon and Hyunjae to wear with their costumes, but Eric preferred to call them like he saw it: thong jockstraps. Anyhow, they were apparently specialized garments designed to support a male ballerina’s baby-makers while they danced. They also created pretty obvious bulges, not that Juyeon needed the padding anyways.</p><p>Eric studiously steered his train of thought away from what was under Juyeon’s dance belt and asked instead: “Did you ever do ballet? You look pretty natural up there.”</p><p>Juyeon grinned. “I did it until middle school, actually. After that it was between dance and basketball, so naturally I chose basketball.”</p><p>“So you’re a regular Troy Bolton!”</p><p>Juyeon tilted his head in confusion.</p><p>“You know, High School Musical? Troy Bolton? He had to choose between singing and dancing and basketball?”</p><p>Juyeon smiled nervously. “I guess that’s a piece of American culture I’ve missed out on.”</p><p>“No problem, we can totally fill in that knowledge hole! You’ve got to watch High School Musical,” Eric insisted.</p><p>Juyeon chuckled. “I’d love to, just say the word.” </p><p>Eric began firing off the names of all of his childhood favorites to figure out what other pieces of essential culture Juyeon had been missing out on. While Juyeon continued to massage his legs and answer yes or no, Eric kept an eye on the other side of the set. </p><p>Younghoon was fussing with some of the candy decorations (which were actually anal beads that Younghoon had brought from home) hanging near the top of the set. As he leaned out from the top of a ladder, Hyunjae ran over and grabbed the base.</p><p>“You shouldn’t be that high on the ladder without someone holding the bottom steady!” Hyunjae admonished.</p><p>“Oh?” Younghoon replied. “Thanks Hyunjae.” He smiled sweetly. “I’m done adjusting the decorations anyways- woah!”</p><p>Younghoon took a little wobble as he descended down the ladder, but fortunately Hyunjae caught him from falling. “You should really be more careful,” Hyunjae frowned.</p><p>“I’ll try,” Younghoon said. Eric was pretty sure that last night had been Younghoon’s only full night of sleep for the past week. Younghoon reached out to examine Hyunjae’s Nutcracker coat. “Speaking of being careful,” he pouted, “Some of your piping is coming loose again.”</p><p>“Oops! Sorry! I didn’t even notice,” Hyunjae turned pink.</p><p>“It’s alright, come and sit down and I’ll re-fasten it.” Younghoon led Hyunjae by hand and sat him down on one of the fold-out chairs around the set. He giggled, “I have to look out for you too.”</p><p>They were cute, Eric thought approvingly. Much better together than Hyunjae and Juyeon. Younghoon and Hyunjae were laughing and talking together, he and Juyeon were laughing and talking together. All was right with the world.</p><p>“Ready to go again?” Kevin called. “Just one more scene and then let’s take a break before we film the sex scene.”</p><p>“You good?” Juyeon asked Eric.</p><p>Eric groaned. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”</p><p>But then Juyeon stood and called to Hyunjae, “This stuff is hard work, I need you to go easy on my ass after the break, okay?”</p><p>Hyunjae laughed and replied easily, “Sure, I’ll take good care of you,” and Eric’s vision went red again. All he wanted was to finish filming so he could retreat away from the set and Juyeon and Hyunjae’s pre-sex banter.</p><p> </p><p>One scene turned into another thirty minutes of slaving away on the film stage, but at last Eric was allowed to take off his pointe shoes for good, leaving the set first. Throwing the torture devices towards the wardrobe rack a little more forcefully than he necessarily needed to, he tore off his ballerina get up and slipped with relief into civilian clothes.</p><p>Then he stalked into the break room, dying to get some food into his stomach. As much as he’d moaned and groaned about being filmed, he had refused to eat or drink too much that day to look good on camera.</p><p>He yanked open the fridge in search of his container, glare just about hot enough to defrost all of the food inside right then and there. Eric blinked. Where the hell was his food? He rummaged around for a couple moments. It wasn’t uncommon for containers to get pushed to the back, but Eric’s food just <em> wasn’t </em> there. <em> Fuck </em>, in his sleep deprived hurry to get out the door for costume and makeup, he’d forgotten his meal in the fridge at his apartment.</p><p>Eric stood and slammed the fridge shut, pacing back and forth across the break room trying to keep it together. He opened the fridge twice again to see if there was anything he could snack on or whip up into a quick meal, but the only communal items in the fridge were ketchup, string cheese, and a couple cans of beer, the latter of which was becoming increasingly appealing to Eric’s disgruntled state.</p><p>Giving up, Eric collapsed into one of the chairs at the little table in the room and sulked. The only other person to come in was Younghoon, who immediately read the room and steered clear of Eric in his irritated state.</p><p>“Eric? Oh, there you are.”</p><p>Eric turned around. Hyunjae’s voice was the last one he wanted to hear right now.</p><p>Unfortunately, his ears hadn’t deceived him. Standing in the doorway was the man himself. He was in his Nutcracker outfit. Younghoon had really gone all out to make him look like a prince, his favoritism showing. Hyunjae greeted Younghoon, who was at the counter in the back assembling a salad he brought from home, made his way to the table, and dropped into the chair across from Eric. He put a plastic bag down in front of Eric.</p><p>“For you.”</p><p>“Huh?” Eric opened the bag and was immediately hit by a wall of incredible, familiar aroma. He pulled out a cardboard food container and a big plastic container of broth. It was takeout from his favorite ramen place.</p><p>“I figured you’ve been working so hard this whole month on writing, and now you have to help out as an extra too, you must be exhausted.” Hyunjae explained. “I asked Juyeon what kind of food to get you.”</p><p>Eric felt a small smile come to his face as he snapped the wooden chopsticks apart and began dropping noodles and toppings into the broth. “...Thanks. This is my favorite,” he said.</p><p>Hyunjae laughed. “Yeah, I knew I could count on Juyeon to know what you liked. You guys are real close, huh?”</p><p>Eric’s mouth formed a thin line. He slurped down a mouthful of noodles (no chewing) before he answered. “I guess so..? I mean, not <em> that </em> close.”</p><p>“Really?” Hyunjae pouted. “Juyeon might be sad to hear that. He said he went over to your place the other week. He mentioned you have a baseball bobblehead collection?”</p><p>What? Juyeon had mentioned that? And the bobbleheads? Was he just trying to make fun of Eric behind his back? A wave of exhaustion and then disappointment and then irritation washed over Eric and he snapped, “Yeah? What about it?”</p><p>Hyunjae raised his hands over his head. “Woah there! He just said he thought it was cute.”</p><p>Eric instantly felt bad. “...You and Juyeon have gotten close too,” he mumbled into his ramen.</p><p>Hyunjae gave a big exhale. “Yeah. I feel lucky we get along so well, I never expected I’d get to be this friendly with my porn costars... Honestly, I never expected to be doing this to begin with.”</p><p>“Really?” So Hyunjae was saying he just accidentally tripped and fell into acting in gay porn? And Eric was the unlucky casualty? Eric stewed and chomped on a piece of pork belly.</p><p>“Yeah- wait, did Kevin never tell you how he casted me?”</p><p>“Uh, no?” Eric said. “You just kinda walked in here one day and several thousand b1gc0ckHYUNJA3 usernames popped up on our subscription list the day after that.”</p><p>Hyunjae chuckled at Eric’s joke but his heart didn’t seem in it. It was for the first time that Eric bothered to look closely at Hyunjae and realize that he looked pretty exhausted too. “Actually, I’m not even into men. This is all new to me. I’m just doing it to make a quick buck because I lost everything in a cryptocurrency venture.”</p><p>Several thousand thoughts flashed across Eric’s pea-sized brain at that moment. It looked something like this: What a fucking idiot, if he didn’t look so dejected I’d laugh! Who the hell tries to mess with cryptocurrency without knowing their shit? Wait, He’s not gay? Shit, that’s too bad for Younghoon. Hold on, that means he doesn’t like Juyeon that way. He’s not a threat? Hyunjae isn’t stealing from me? So my hatred for him is unfounded? God, I feel like a dick now! But that’s not the point! Him and Juyeon aren’t a thing! Finally! Eric Sohn! Is freed! From the shackles of Envy!</p><p>“Wow,” was all Eric managed to say out loud.</p><p>Hyunjae slouched over the table and buried his head in his arms. “God, it’s so embarrassing. So no one at the studio actually knows?”</p><p>Eric made the unfortunate choice of looking up towards the back at that moment and he locked gazes with Younghoon, whose eyes were saucered and looked completely shattered by this revelation.</p><p>Eric shook his head though Hyunjae was still facedown on the table. “No, I don’t think so. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of!” He quickly added. “I mean- regardless of how we got here we’re all working at a porn studio now.”</p><p>Hyunjae peeked up at Eric. “Thanks Eric... That’s actually really nice to hear.”</p><p>“You’re welcome,” Eric said. “Thanks for the ramen too, I forgot to say it earlier.” (More like hadn’t planned on saying it because of a certain green eyed monster.)</p><p>“No problem man,” Hyunjae said. “Like you said, we’re all going through it together.”</p><p>Eric nodded commiseratingly.</p><p>“And after shooting wraps tonight I’ve got to go to my other part time job,” Hyunjae groaned. “Life as an up-and-coming investor is hard.”</p><p>“It sure is,” Eric agreed without any knowledge of what exactly he was agreeing to.</p><p>“Anyways,” Hyunjae stood up, “I think I probably have to get back out to the set now. Thanks for being here Eric.” His smile was genuine.</p><p>“You too, Hyunjae,” Eric said on autopilot, head still whirling. Hyunjae left the breakroom and then it was just Eric, his ramen, and Younghoon’s silent back, which had remained at the counter far longer than was required to assemble a simple salad.</p><p>“Hey,” Eric began, unsure of what to say.</p><p>Younghoon’s shoulders fell and he turned around with a strained expression on his face. “I knew he was too good to be true,” He sighed. “Good for you though, no more threats to you and Juyeon, right?”</p><p>“Well-”</p><p>Younghoon came to Eric and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “It’s a good thing.” And he walked out of the room as well.</p><p>“What about your salad-” Eric’s words went unheard. Younghoon’s glass container sat on the back counter, empty. He’d probably eaten all of it while eavesdropping on Eric and Hyunjae’s conversation. Eric huffed and got up to wash it. It had been a long day and with the promise of more hours of shooting to come, this information was way, way too much to process right now.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>“And that’s a wrap!” Kevin’s voice through that cursed cheap megaphone never sounded so sweet.</p><p>Cheers from the entire crew resounded throughout the studio. Hyunjae even went as far as to pick up some of the fake snow on the ground and throw it up in the air like confetti. The image of a grown man, buck naked, standing in a set decorated to resemble a family friendly Christmas classic, watching fake snow float down and stick to his come-covered body was as hilarious as it was dark-sided.</p><p>“Yuck,” Juyeon said. He picked some of the fake snow out from between his well greased thighs. “I’m gonna be cleaning this shit out of my asshole until the new year.”</p><p>Younghoon stepped on set, bathrobes in hand. “I wish you an ounce of luck with that,” he said to Juyeon as he handed him one. He turned to Hyunjae and Eric half expected Younghoon to take out a pair of tweezers to start removing the bits of fake snow from every nook and cranny of Hyunjae’s body, but Younghoon just gave Hyunjae a nod and passed the other robe over.</p><p>“Hey Eric, thanks for jumping in as an extra on such short notice.” Kevin came up to stand next to Eric. “You literally saved the day.”</p><p>Eric narrowed his eyes. “You owe me big time, Kev.”</p><p>“I do, I do,” Kevin agreed. “What can I-”</p><p>“A container of those sour watermelon gummy edibles,” Eric supplied immediately, getting an evil glint in his eye. What could he say? When he saw an opportunity he took it.</p><p>“A whole container?” Kevin balked. “Those aren’t cheap!”</p><p>“I know, that’s why they’re the best.” Eric hummed. “And after what I’ve done for you today, don’t I deserve the best?” It wasn’t a threat, but he tried to make it sound like one.</p><p>“Alright, fine,” Kevin said, holding his hands above his head. “But,” he pointed an accusatory finger at Eric, “I don’t want you coming to work high, understand?”</p><p>“Yes Mom,” Eric sang. Sunwoo would be absolutely pumped.</p><p>“Hey- Younghoon, Hak, stop that,” Kevin said over Eric’s head, getting on the megaphone again. “Don’t worry about taking the set down tonight, we can save that for tomorrow morning when we’ve all had a good night’s rest.”</p><p>“Yes boss!” Came the happy chorus.</p><p>The crew attended to the few things they absolutely had to complete before they left and gathered in the office for their usual post-shoot debrief ten or fifteen minutes later.</p><p>“Say, where’s Hyunjae?”</p><p>Everyone looked around. Sure enough, there were only nine people in the office.</p><p>“Bathroom, maybe?’ Jacob offered.</p><p>“I doubt it,” Haknyeon said, “I was just in there.”</p><p>“His bag is still here so he didn’t go home..” Kevin trailed off.</p><p>“One minute,” Chanhee said.</p><p>“We might know where he is,” Changmin finished. The pair disappeared towards the photo stage. Eric was never gonna get used to how scarily synchronized they were. He wondered briefly if Sunwoo would be even more into the two actors if he had the same knowledge, but immediately banished the train of thought from his mind. A couple minutes later Chanhee and Changmin returned.</p><p>“Found him,” Changmin said. “Come with us,”</p><p>“But be quiet.” Chanhee finished.</p><p>The group followed tweedle dee and tweedle dum in silence, tip-toeing across the darkened photostage and towards the fitting rooms on the other side of the building. Chanhee gingerly opened one of the doors and there inside, slumped against the wall, completely passed out and oblivious to the world was Hyunjae.</p><p>“The poor guy didn’t even finish getting dressed before he knocked out,” Sangyeon observed. Indeed, Hyunjae’s jeans were on but he was one sleeve in and one sleeve out of his Nutcracker blouse. Bits of fake snow still stuck to his torso. He looked like a ragdoll leaned over on itself on the changing bench.</p><p>“Should we wake him?” Chanhee and Changmin asked in unison.</p><p>“Let him sleep,” Juyeon spoke up.</p><p>“Yeah, he looks exhausted.” Kevin agreed. “We all are. You guys can go home and I’ll make sure Hyunjae doesn’t spend the night in the changing rooms.”</p><p>Kevin wasn’t wrong. Hyunjae had at least gotten the chance to remove his makeup before succumbing to sleep because his dark circles were shockingly apparent. Eric <em> did </em> feel a twinge of sympathy for the guy. His eyes flicked to Juyeon, who was looking at Hyunjae with a small frown on his face, and Eric felt his own brow stiffen. It was plain to see that Juyeon cared for Hyunjae. Did he know that Hyunjae would never be able to return that affection?</p><p>As the group made their way back to the front doors, Eric remembered Younghoon. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet amidst this whole matter centering on Hyunjae. The costume designer appeared to be deep in thought, though concern bled through his expression. Eric was almost about to go over to Younghoon to prompt him into talking, but then Younghoon stopped and spoke up himself:</p><p>“Kevin, you can go ahead home too. I’ll take care of Hyunjae. I have to stay late to work on some of the props for the New Year’s shoot anyways.” He jangled his keys. “I’ve got the master to lock up as well.”</p><p>“Ooooh, got big plans for tonight?” Chanhee and Changmin gave Younghoon dual nudges from both sides.</p><p> “Maaaaybe.” Younghoon giggled, pushing them both back. “Just kidding, I wish.”</p><p>“What Younghoon wants, Younghoon gets,” Haknyeon teased.</p><p>Really? Was Younghoon still planning on trying to hook up with Hyunjae even after Hyunjae’s confession in the break room earlier today? Once again, Eric’s gaze slipped to Juyeon, who was grinning at the teasing. Was it just Eric’s imagination or did his smile look a little too stiff? Juyeon needed to know somehow that Hyunjae wasn’t an option. Eric didn’t think, it just slipped out: “Even though Hyunjae said he’s not into guys?”</p><p>Eric slapped his hand over his mouth the moment he said it, but it was too late, the whole room had already gone quiet. Clearly not too many of their other coworkers had known that about Hyunjae. But no one was looking at Eric, instead all eyes were on Younghoon, who was standing stock still, expressionless, keys still hanging off his pinky finger.</p><p>Eric instantly felt nauseous. He was so awful and selfish. He only had one-track mind on making sure Juyeon knew that Hyunjae was unavailable, so that Juyeon would look at Eric. He curled his nails into the flesh of his palm, internally kicking himself.</p><p>The uncomfortable silence persevered until Kevin spoke up. “It’s true, I’m sure Hyunjae would have much preferred to tell you all himself but his work at Get It? Got It was his first time with a man.” Kevin was mostly speaking towards Younghoon with an almost apologetic tone. “He made it clear to me when he signed that he’s never been interested in men-”</p><p>“I know, he told Eric today in the break room and I was there too.” Younghoon interrupted with an edge to his voice. He sighed, deflating as quickly as he had flared up.</p><p>“I’m sorry Younghoon-” Eric began, but Younghoon put a hand up.</p><p>“No need to be sorry,” Younghoon said. “Look,” he began, “I know it’s common knowledge at this point that I’ve been thirsting over Hyunjae since he got here. It’s fine if you guys tease me about it, I bring it on myself most of the time anyways.”</p><p>“Sure, at first I paid him extra attention because I thought he was hot, but now I like him for other reasons too. He’s considerate, he makes me laugh, and he works extra hard to keep up and be a star for our studio even though this is all new to him. He didn’t want to tell anyone since he thought it might make people worry or slow down the shooting schedule, but he’s been working part time night shifts since the end of November so he can buy holiday gifts for all of his extended family. I only found out because I had to ask why his under eyes needed so much extra concealer lately.”</p><p>Younghoon had a determined pout on his face and his hands had found their way to his hips. “So no, I don’t have any funny business planned for tonight. I just want to stay behind and make sure my friend is getting the rest he needs.” Younghoon paused. “And I really do need to work on those props.”</p><p>Despite his predilection towards giving Eric shit and making lewd comments, Younghoon was mostly a soft-spoken and gentle person. He preferred to go with the flow and rarely stood up to make a fuss about himself. So to hear a monologue like this was rare, and everyone knew it. Eric almost felt like crying, he didn’t know why. Maybe he was proud of his friend.</p><p>Finally Kevin broke the stunned silence. “You’re a good person Younghoon. I’m glad you’re here with us.” He moved to gather his belongings. “I’ll let you stay behind and lock up then.” To the rest of the office: “Don’t bother coming in until after eleven tomorrow, the doors will be locked. We’ve all had a long couple of days, we deserve the late morning.”</p><p>Kevin paused by the front door to wait for Jacob, who quickly shrugged into his jacket and shuffled to the door. “See you guys,” Jacob gave a quick wave with that angelic voice of his, and then the pair were out the door.</p><p>Chanhee and Changmin gave Younghoon a synchronized pat on the back. “We’re off too then.” The office started clearing out, tension dissipating, but Eric still wanted to talk to Younghoon.</p><p>“Hoon, I’m really sorry,” Eric tried again. “I shouldn’t have said that.”</p><p>Younghoon gave Eric a smile and Eric could see the fatigue in the way his eyes crinkled. “Don’t worry about it Eric, if anything, you might have to apologize to Hyunjae, but no one’s feelings were hurt. It’s alright.”</p><p>Eric opened his mouth to say something else but Younghoon interrupted. “You should go home too, I know you were up all night last night fixing the script.”</p><p>Eric deflated, sighed. “Alright Younghoon, I will. Try not to stay too late tonight either.”</p><p>Younghoon gave a bigger smile, one that was warmer. “I’ll try my best. Thanks Eric.” And then he disappeared into the backroom to retrieve the props.</p><p>Eric lifted his hand one more time but Younghoon had already turned his back. He didn’t know what else he had to say, anyways. God, he was a real asshole. Logically he knew that worrying was useless now that everything was all said and done, but he’d always had a hard time listening to logic when his feelings were involved.</p><p>The only thing he could do now was head home. He felt like a zombie anyways. It was only when he turned towards the door that he realized the last person left in the office was Juyeon.</p><p>Juyeon just gave a nod towards the door. “Should we go home?”</p><p>They left the office side by side without a word. Eric was grateful on one hand for Juyeon not saying anything, but on the other hand he was practically vibrating with anxiety at the awkward silence.</p><p>By the time they reached the lobby, Eric couldn’t help himself. “Hyung, did you know that Hyunjae was straight?”</p><p>Juyeon blinked at him. “Oh, yeah. He told me before our first scene together.” Juyeon chuckled. “I remember him being so nervous.”</p><p>What? Seriously? “Um.” Eric said.</p><p>“Don’t worry too much about what you said back there,” Juyeon said, putting a reassuring hand on Eric’s shoulder. “I know you didn’t mean any harm, sometimes stuff just slips out.”</p><p>Eric nodded. It was true. The gift of gab was both a blessing and a curse.</p><p>“Plus, I don’t think he’s the type to get mad over that kind of stuff. Maybe embarrassed, but.”</p><p>Eric remained quiet, allowing Juyeon to guide him by the shoulder out into the parking lot.</p><p>“What’s up, Youngjae?” Juyeon said, pausing when they were outside. He circled in front of Eric and planted his hands on his shoulders, leaning down a bit to get on the same eye level. “It’s not like you to be this quiet.”</p><p>Eric stared at Juyeon’s face, his defined nose and pink lips, still deep in his own head. Wisps of breath floated out of Juyeon’s mouth and into the December air.</p><p>“Hm?” Juyeon prompted. “You can tell me.”</p><p>“Nothing,” Eric said. “Just, I dunno, thought you were into him for some reason.”</p><p>“What?” Juyeon said. “Into who?” As if he’d forgotten all about Hyunjae in the mere moments after speaking his name.</p><p>“Hyunjae,” Eric clarified.</p><p>“Hyunjae?” Juyeon withdrew looking perplexed and almost offended. “Why would you think that? We get along really well but, well, he’s not my type.”</p><p>“Then what is your type?” Eric asked, dumbfounded.</p><p>Juyeon bit his lip and ducked his head. “I don’t know. Cute and funny?”</p><p>“Cute and funny?” Eric repeated. “Hey-!” Eric grabbed above his head as he felt his bucket hat disappear. “Hey! My head is all cold now!”</p><p>Juyeon laughed, holding the bucket hat above Eric’s reach. By the time Eric finally wrestled Juyeon’s arm down to reclaim his hat, the time to ask Juyeon what he meant had already passed.</p><p>“I just feel bad,” Eric said instead. “He confided in me and I turned around and spilled the beans just like that.”</p><p>“I already heard the whole story, if that makes you feel any better,” Juyeon said.</p><p>Eric sighed. Not really. “I can relate to him, actually. Getting into the porn industry because my original plans didn’t pan out.”</p><p>“Hm?” Juyeon paused.</p><p>“Maybe I didn’t mention it before, I was planning on going to med school to become a surgeon.”</p><p>“Oh really?”</p><p>“Yeah...” Eric trailed off. Juyeon laughed and Eric snapped his head up. “Hey-!”</p><p>“No, no, I’m not laughing at you!” Juyeon hurried to explain. “I’m laughing with you! I was supposed to go back to Korea after doing college here to be an English teacher!”</p><p>“What? No way! You’d be great at it though!”</p><p>Juyeon snorted. “I could barely speak a word when I got here. I was a disaster at the airport- actually that’s a funny story-”</p><p>“I’d love to hear!” Eric exclaimed, and promptly bumped right into the hood of his own car.</p><p>“Pfft.”</p><p>“Shut up.”</p><p>“I’ll tell you another time, I think your car is calling.”</p><p>“..Fine.”</p><p>“Anyways, my point is that there’s nothing wrong with how things turned out for all of us. I really hope that you don’t feel that way. I mean, I’m actually glad.”</p><p>“Yeah, otherwise you wouldn’t have met <em> me, </em> right?” Eric was joking, but as he was wont to do, a healthy dose of wishful thinking came with it.</p><p>“Well, yeah.” Juyeon replied without hesitation. He held his keys up and his car blinked to life somewhere across the parking lot.  “Now get out of here before I change my mind.” He paused and then, because Juyeon was simply incapable of not being caring, added “It’s cold, and you haven’t slept.”</p><p>Eric snickered. “Sure, sure, as if you would ever change your mind.” He unlocked his own car and climbed into the driver’s seat while Juyeon watched with that one Juyeon smile where he kept his eyes wide open and curled his lips in on themselves. “See you tomorrow hyung!”</p><p>Juyeon just waved mutely from the other side of the window and mouthed ‘drive safe!’</p><p>Eric made a serious face and gave Juyeon a salute before turning the keys in the ignition. He’d deal with the fallout of his comment in the office tomorrow, but first, sleep.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>Eric came into the office the next day sipping on a double shot Peppermint Mocha like it was his lifeline. As expected, it’s not the day of but the day <em> after </em> pulling an all nighter that’s always the worst.</p><p>Eric plopped down at his desk and almost did a double take. It was Younghoon, seated across from him with a dopey smile across his face, head pillowed in his hand as he painted details onto a control panel prop for their next scene and hummed a song that sounded suspiciously like We Belong Together by Mariah Carey. His hair was fluffy, skin shining, and most alarmingly, he was wearing his favorite powder pink Prada button up, the one he saved only for the most special of occasions.</p><p>“What the hell happened to you?”</p><p>“Oh, hi Eric.” Younghoon looked up as if Eric had snapped him out of a daydream. He smiled starry eyed as he twirled the silver chain dripping down his collarbones around an index finger. “You wouldn’t believe it.”</p><p>Eric arched an eyebrow. “Try me.”</p><p>“Well,” Younghoon began, “Let’s just say that Hyunjae might not be as straight as we thought he was.”</p><p>“What?!” Eric stood, his chair falling over behind him.</p><p>“But don’t make a big deal over it, you know how he gets shy-” Younghoon stopped and  stood too. “Oh, Hyunjae! Hi!” Younghoon waved and looked somewhere over Eric’s head with a million watt smile.</p><p>“Hi Younghoon, hi Eric.” Hyunjae returned the greeting with a brief wave. He was still carrying his bag, one of those computer backpacks that Eric usually saw tech bros wearing while they longboarded to work.</p><p>“Come see what I’m working on for the next scene?” Younghoon asked. Hyunjae came over to Younghoon’s desk with a cautious smile on his face. Younghoon pulled a chair up for him and Hyunjae sat down, hands in his lap. “See, this is what I was gonna work on last night, before you distracted me.” Younghoon gave Hyunjae a little shoulder bump.</p><p>Hyunjae turned pink and ducked his head down to hide his smile. “Sorry about that. Looks really cool though.”</p><p>Eric could not believe his eyes. Hyunjae was glowing too. He locked eyes with Younghoon to find his coworker giving a borderline demonic cat-got-the-cream expression. Eric was certain that horror was written all over his own face. But wow. What was this foreign feeling welling up in his chest? Happiness? Happiness for the apparently budding couple?</p><p>Out of nowhere, Hyunjae pulled out a beading cup of iced americano and placed it in front of Younghoon, looking too shy to even make eye contact. “I picked this up for you on the way to work... Just thought you could be tired, or something?”</p><p>Younghoon’s eyes sparkled. “Jaehyun! That’s so sweet of you, thank you~” He leaned into Hyunjae’s personal bubble right until their noses were a breath’s width away from touching. Hyunjae didn’t even lean away, eyes going crossed to keep his transfixed gaze on Younghoon.</p><p>Nevermind. The minute Younghoon started using Hyunjae’s birth certificate name, Eric was out. He turned around in disgust and almost knocked heads with Kevin.</p><p>“Woah there Eric!” Kevin jerked back. “I just wanted to swing by to tell you, I was thinking it would be great if our New Year’s scene turned into a surprise threesome! Since it’s the last part of the series, after all. Do you think you could write Jacob in? Thanks!” The studio head grinned brightly before flouncing off to join Jacob behind a computer (Jacob did an editor’s job when he wasn’t on camera himself.)</p><p>Eric groaned. Couples were the worst.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>"I'm nervous, Hyunjae."</p><p>"What's there to be nervous about, Juyeon? It’s not like this is your first time."</p><p>"No... but, it's just that it's so big this time."</p><p>"Isn't bigger better?" Hyunjae asks.</p><p>Juyeon bites his lip. "Sometimes," he says, "but in this case it's so big that I'm not sure if I can handle it."</p><p>Juyeon and Hyunjae sit in a small control room. In front of them are two screens displaying different colored matrices of information and a panel of controls.</p><p>Hyunjae gives Juyeon a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, working the New Year's firework show may seem like a big event, but it's no different from any other show. Our job here in the onsite control center is just to keep the main team updated that the electronic firing system is working as programmed. You'll do just fine. And if not, that's what I'm here for, right?'</p><p>"You're right," Juyeon admits. "You're much more experienced than me so I'm glad to have you behind me when I need you."</p><p>"Right."</p><p>"Let's just hope that I <em> don't </em> need you tonight."</p><p>Hyunjaes mouth curls up. "We'll see."</p><p>The countdown to the fireworks show begins. Juyeon and Hyunjae put on their headsets to keep in touch with the team as the first rocket fires from about a hundred meters away outside the small control center. The two men watch it burst into light through the viewing window, perfectly in time with the music track.</p><p>"Onsite to Main Operations, we are on time," Juyeon reports through his headset. He mutes the set and turns to keep watching the display. "They're beautiful."</p><p>"Sure are," Hyunjae replies. He stands up from his chair and begins to massage Juyeon's neck and shoulders. "Just helping you relax."</p><p>Juyeon leans back into the touch with a sigh. "Thanks, Hyunjae. As amazing as this show is, I can't wait for it to be over so you can <em> really </em> help me relax."</p><p>Hyunjae raises an eyebrow. "Why not now?"</p><p>“H-Hyunjae, are you sure?”</p><p>Soon Juyeon is leaning with his forearms braced against the control panel, pants at his ankles and ass out as Hyunjae stretches out his hole with the handy dandy lube that he happens to carry with him at all times. </p><p>"Go on, unmute your set and tell them that the second round has deployed as intended." Hyunjae says.</p><p>Juyeon blushes but does as he's told. "Onsite to Main Communications. R-round two is on time and I'm getting prepped- I mean the next round is getting prepped!"</p><p>The fireworks show carries on outside while Juyeon and Hyunjae make progress of their own inside the booth. As Hyunjae slides inside Juyeon, it becomes harder and harder for him to keep his voice steady as he reports to their superiors. Soon it’s apparent that Juyeon is close.</p><p>"Juyeon, will you fire on time or do you need a digital command?" Hyunjae delivers the line suggestively, hovering a hand above Juyeon's weeping dick. (Get it? Digital? Ha.)</p><p>“Please,” Juyeon sobs. The show has ended by now and the headset lays on the floor, long forgotten. Hyunjae edges Juyeon twice and then they come together, Juyeon’s spunk splattering all over the panel.</p><p>The two men slump over the panel, breathing heavily. Juyeon’s come smudges over his chest, which was exposed when Hyunjae pulled his shirt up to his armpits earlier.</p><p>Without warning, the door to the booth swings open. Standing in the doorway is none other than their supervisor, Jacob. Juyeon and Hyunjae gasp and leap away from each other, scrambling to zip up. “It’s not what it looks like,” Hyunjae blurts. “I thought you were supposed to be in the main control center?”</p><p>“I was, but I thought I heard some strange noises coming from this end.” Jacob smirks. “I admit that I wasn’t expecting <em> this </em> though.”</p><p>“Sir, please don’t fire us,” Juyeon pleads, getting down on his knees. “We’ll do <em> anything. </em>”</p><p>Jacob glances around the booth, from the cum stained control panel to the discarded condom and unscrewed tube of lube. Then he walks up to Juyeon until his visible bulge presses against his mouth. “Anything?”</p><p>Jacob and Hyunjae end up spit-roasting Juyeon. The scene ends with the two misbehaving employees kneeling in front of Jacob to catch his cum with their mouths in punishment for misconduct on the job. The threesome starts to clean up the booth and straighten themselves out, agreeing to make this a New Year’s tradition, and the picture fades to black.</p><p>The video cuts to all five of Get It? Got It Studios’ actors standing in the sullied control booth set. They wave and greet the camera.</p><p>“Thanks for your viewership this year-” Chanhee begins.</p><p>“-we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without your support.” Changmin finishes.</p><p>“We hope that you’ve enjoyed every installment of our Holiday Special Series this year.” Hyunjae says.</p><p>“From all of us at Get It? Got It, we want to wish you Happy Holidays.” Jacob says.</p><p>“And we hope that we’ll have a place on <em> your </em> New Year’s To Do List next year as well.” Juyeon finishes with a cheeky smile and a wink.</p><p>As soon as Juyeon is done, Chanhee throws confetti into the air and everyone explodes into cheers, shouting thanks and holiday well wishes into the camera. The video fades to black once and for all. At last, Get It? Got It’s Holiday Special Series has come to an end.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>Eric whooped along with the rest of the crew as the five actors stepped off the film stage for the last time this year. He was rather happy with how well he’d pivoted to accommodate Kevin’s ‘surprise threesome’ request into the New Year’s scene. He’d actually repurposed a scene he’d originally written where one of the actors was forced to play a video game and talk on voice comms with a vibrator inside them. It had been tabled a couple months ago because Kevin thought that none of their actors really matched the scenario. Kevin had been so kind as to break out his ten year old version of After Effects, tinkering around with a couple pirated plugins to confirm that fireworks were within the studio’s special effects capabilities. After Eric got the go ahead he’d adapted the script happily. It was a lot less stressful than the previous two shoots.</p><p>“Shots! Shots! Shots!” Kevin’s voice crackled through his megaphone.</p><p>“Calm it down, LMFAO,” came Haknyeon’s reply almost instantly.</p><p>Oh right! In honor of New Year’s and the final wrap of the year, Kevin had promised to make the last shot ‘a real martini shot’ by bringing drinks for the crew. Lined up on the snacks table like beacons of light on a stormy night were three tall bottles of cheap Trader Joe’s champagne and a stack of red solo cups. You know what? Sometimes Kevin wasn’t so bad after all.</p><p>Haknyeon took care of ordering delivery and soon everyone at the office was a couple drinks and half a dozen garlic fried chicken orders into the night. The office was in high spirits. For good reasons, Eric thought. They were finally done with work for the year. (Well, Kevin and Jacob still had to cut the footage, but that wasn’t Eric’s concern.)</p><p>But there was still something Eric wanted to clear the air regarding before the studio dispersed for the holidays. He waited until he saw Hyunjae peel away to the drinks and snacks table and joined him there.</p><p>“Hey Hyunjae,”</p><p>“Hi Eric.” Hyunjae grinned, showing off his two billion baby sized teeth. “Great work for this entire project, by the way.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Eric replied. “About that- what I ended up blurting out about you in front of the whole office after our last wrap- I’m really sorry. Sincerely.”</p><p>Hyunjae stopped pouring and put the champagne bottle down. “Oh, that?” He paused. “It’s alright Eric. It’s.. they all would have found out one way or another. But I appreciate the apology.”</p><p>Eric bit his lip. “It was a horrible thing to do. Divulging something personal like that.”</p><p>“I have a hard time talking about personal stuff in general, so maybe it was a good thing that you did it for me,” Hyunjae joked. “Plus, you turned out to be wrong.” He nodded towards where Younghoon was standing across the office, expression fond. “You’re not such a reputable source, apparently.” Hyunjae wriggled his eyebrows.</p><p>“I’m really happy for you guys,” Eric said. “Is it too much to ask why you had a change of heart?”</p><p>Hyunjae got this small smile on his face and busied himself with the champagne again instead of looking Eric in the eye. “Younghoon has taken care of me since I got here.. I realized maybe my feelings for him go beyond friendship. So far things have been going really well, I really really like him, so maybe I like men... I mean, I’m already gay-for-pay! He’s not a chance I wanted to miss out on because of some dumb quarterlife sexuality crisis, you know?”</p><p>“Awwww” Eric cooed.</p><p>“Did that sound sappy? Don’t tell him I said that. No blurting things out about me anymore, got it?”</p><p>“I swear I won’t speak a word to him!” Eric promised, already thinking of how he would reenact the moment to Younghoon later. They were sickeningly sweet.</p><p>“Everyone, we’re gonna play Quiplash!” Eric and Hyunjae turned to see Kevin standing on a desk to get attention. “Loser of each round takes a sip of champagne!”</p><p>“Oh, I’m about to humiliate you guys,” Eric cheered, pulling his phone out. And thank god that talk with Hyunjae went well. When he wasn’t fucking Juyeon onscreen, Hyunjae was a cool dude.</p><p>Despite his overflowing confidence and the fact that he was literally the studio’s writer, Eric ended up losing quite a few rounds of Quiplash. He was convinced that the whole studio, familiar with his one-liners by now, had decided to purposely never vote for his jokes. By the time Sangyeon spoke up to call the drinking game quits if they wanted to be able to drive home, Eric was quite comfortably warm. At some point while they were playing, Eric had rolled his chair into Juyeon’s or maybe it was the other way around, Eric hadn’t been paying attention.</p><p>Now he bumped Juyeon over the armrest of his chair and said, “Hey hyung, you promised you would tell me that story about the airport.” The champagne helped his words flow easily.</p><p>“Oh right!” Juyeon smiled, hand flying up to the back of his head. “You sure you wanna hear?”</p><p>“Course, hyung! It’s about you, after all.” Eric explained plainly.</p><p>“Okay then,” Juyeon replied. “Well-” He paused. “You’re listening right?”</p><p>“Mhm!” Eric nodded, pulling his knees up and getting cozy on his chair.</p><p>“Alright so, back when I’d just gotten my acceptance to UCLA, this was when I was back in Korea, and my mom was so excited that she went and bought me a whole new luggage set and this cute cat charm to put on my suitcase- it was supposed to be for good luck in my studies abroad.”</p><p>“Catboy,” Eric giggled. “It was black, right?”</p><p>“How did you know?”</p><p>Eric giggled again. “Have you seen yourself?”</p><p>“Um,” Juyeon laughed. “Well, anyways, uh, fast forward to when I was flying to America with all my stuff, and I mean <em> all </em> of it. I was gonna survive on my own in America for four years with the stuff. I got to the airport in Incheon and figured, since I would have to start using English for everything soon, why don’t I fill out all of my forms and baggage in English?”</p><p>Eric gasped. “Dun dun dun,” He said dramatically.</p><p>“Right?” Juyeon replied. “You can probably guess what happened. I filled out my luggage tags all wrong and then ended up somewhere in Austria instead of in LA with me. I was a nervous wreck at the airport when my bags didn’t come off the carousel. To be honest, it was the first time in my life that I had been completely, utterly screwed with only myself to blame. There I was, alone in America with only my carry-on, rudimentary understanding of English, and only a week until school started.”</p><p>“Mm.”</p><p>“Fortunately I was able to get my luggage back, but it wasn’t until a month after school started. But by that time I’d already spent money replacing everything, and the worst thing was that when my bags got back, the good luck charm was missing! That should have been my first sign that being an English teacher wouldn’t work out... Youngjae? Earth to Youngjae? Are you still with me?”</p><p>Eric shook his head at the sound of his name. At some point his eyes had slipped closed and he felt even warmer than before. “I’m here!” He mumbled out.</p><p>“Were you even listening?” Juyeon asked, giving a knowing smile.</p><p>“Course I was!” Eric protested.</p><p>“Stop sticking your bottom lip out like that.”</p><p>Eric crossed his arms and stuck it out further.</p><p>Juyeon exhaled and stood up. “You lost a lot of times at Quiplash, didn’t you?”</p><p>“Hmph!” Eric tried to keep his eyes open but they sank closed again.</p><p>“Kevin, Youngjae is just about ready to pass out. I think I’m gonna take him home. I think we went a little overboard on voting against his answers.”</p><p>“I knew you were all conspiring against me!” Eric didn’t bother to open his eyes. All he got in answer was a hand (presumably Kevin’s, by the feel and size) ruffling his head.</p><p>“Maybe it’s a good idea for everyone to head out now,” Kevin said. “But don’t forget everyone, company party at my place on New Year's Eve!” No way Kevin would keep the festivities to a measly post-wrap drink.</p><p>Everyone issued their acknowledgements as Juyeon attempted to extract Eric from his swivel chair. He’d somehow managed to get the hood of his sweatshirt stuck between the panels of the back of it.</p><p>Soon Eric was trudging into the parking lot, clinging to Juyeon for warmth. Sorrowfully, he had to part with Juyeon for a minute to get into the passenger’s seat, but Juyeon promised he would blast the heat as soon as he got the engine started.</p><p>“But what about my car!”</p><p>“You can come back and get it tomorrow morning, when you can pass the breathalyzer.” </p><p>They drove in silence while the local radio station’s classic Christmas selection battled against the roar of the heater. Eric still had a tough time keeping his eyes open. It wasn’t like he had pulled an all nighter, but the whole Holiday Special had put a strain on his sleep schedule. The combination of fatigue and alcohol was a double whammy.</p><p>The glimpses of the outside world that Eric did manage to catch glittered brightly through the fogged windows of Juyeon’s car. Christmas in LA wasn’t exactly a winter wonderland in a traditional sense, but it was the picture of the holidays that Eric knew and loved. The blinding lights that usually encrusted the city like gatekeepers of stardom tempered, glowing warm and inviting in the colors of the holidays. You could walk down sprawling residential streets with palm trees trussed up in lights, every square inch of the massive lawns covered in decorations, and sip hot chocolate from the top of the ferris wheel at the pier, watching the city reflect across the dimpled surface of the Pacific Ocean. Eric had been so caught up with work that this was the first time he’d really slowed down to appreciate the season.</p><p>“I love this.”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>Eric blinked when he realized he’d spoken aloud. “The holiday season,” he elaborated. “It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”</p><p>“Me too,” Juyeon replied. “It’s funny, but I think my participation in this holiday special has given me the most holiday spirit that I’ve had in my time in America.”</p><p>They lapsed into comfortable silence again. Eric made a conscious effort to keep his eyes open, admiring the view of the city. Juyeon knew the way to his apartment without asking, Eric realized. The highway they drove on looked out on the city, from Santa Monica Beach to Central LA to the hills. Poured across the landscape were as many lights as there were stars in the sky, and each light was a person experiencing life just like Eric was. His heart clenched from the sight, the alcohol weighing on his veins, his perfect company, his sentimental mood, the simple beauty of the moment.</p><p>Soon they pulled up outside of Eric’s apartment, but he wasn’t ready to let the moment slip through his fingers quite yet.</p><p>“I’m glad things turned out this way too.” Eric said.</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“What you said the other night, about being glad your first plan didn’t work out. I’m glad too. Because otherwise I wouldn’t have met you.”</p><p>Juyeon shifted in his seat so that he was fully facing Eric and smiled. Did he know that ten thousand lights come to life and die on the surface of his eyes every time he smiles? “I already told you, Youngjae. I feel the same way.”</p><p>“Sometimes I think you really do feel the same way.” Eric whispered. It was funny. Usually his pulse would be racing at a moment like this. But in the nebulaic haze obfuscating his consciousness there was no room for nerves, only feeling.</p><p>A stillness thickened the interior of the car. Eric felt Juyeon’s eyes travelling searchingly over his face. “Youngjae, what do you mean by that?” His voice had softened too, quiet lest the moment shatter into pieces.</p><p>“You’re my favorite at the studio, you know that hyung?”</p><p>There was an empty moment before Juyeon licked his lips. “Yeah?”</p><p>“Mhm.” Eric leaned in, almost because he simply felt tired and couldn’t hold himself upright anymore. His focus narrowed to a single point in space- the pinkish bumpy smudge that was Juyeon’s mouth.</p><p>Eric didn’t know what kind of expression Juyeon was wearing, what his hands were doing- he just knew that pinkish smudge was growing larger and larger in his field of vision. Juyeon was leaning in too-</p><p>It all happened in a fraction of a second. Juyeon’s hand darted past him, releasing Eric’s seatbelt and pushing the passenger seat door open. The sacred quiet of the moment cracked and shriveled and disappeared out the door into the vacuous winter’s night. Eric’s eyes snapped fully open and his whole body prickled at the cold wind. Shit.</p><p>“You’re drunk,” Juyeon said flatly. “You should go in and sleep it off.”</p><p>“Hyung-”</p><p>Juyeon gave Eric a push and before he knew what was happening, he was stumbling out onto the sidewalk.</p><p>“Juyeon-”</p><p>“Go in safely,” Juyeon said, an indecipherable expression marring his handsome face.</p><p>“I’m not that drunk-” Eric protested as he finally came to his senses, but by then Juyeon was pulling out from the curb. “..I’m serious.” The condensation in the air didn’t reply.</p><p>Because he<em> wasn’t </em> that drunk. But he’d been just comfortable enough, just loose enough to lean in towards Juyeons lips in the passenger seat of his car. Just enough to practically confess his feelings. And now everything- the briskness of the night air, Juyeon’s words, and the realization of his actions were like a sobering bucket of ice water over Eric’s head. Suddenly he could barely feel the alcohol in his system at all. All he felt flowing through his veins was icy cold regret.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>The holidays went by in a blink. Eric spent his first few days off doing last minute gift shopping and then visited his family in Orange County for a couple days to celebrate Christmas with them. He barely had time to think about the last time he’d seen Juyeon, but every time he did he ended up kicking himself. The company New Year’s party hung ominously above his head, and now it had finally arrived.</p><p>“Do you think putting my hair up would be too much for this party?” Sunwoo’s voice came from their shared bathroom.</p><p>Eric rolled his eyes. Right. He had gotten permission to bring Sunwoo along, and his roommate was hell bent on making the best first impression he possibly could on Chanhee- no wait, Changmin, he couldn’t choose.</p><p>“You don’t even look good with your hair up,” Eric replied. “Just wear a nice shirt or something and call it a day.” Eric held his favorite double breasted black blazer up in front of himself in the mirror. He’d already resolved on wearing his pair of black cropped dress pants, the ones that made his ass look amazing when he belted them. Would going shirtless under the blazer be too much?</p><p>“As if you haven’t been planning your outfit to seduce Juyeon for the past week,” Sunwoo sniped. Eric wished it wasn’t true but it was. </p><p>“Why are <em> you </em> wearing all black too?” Sunwoo pointed accusingly from the door to Eric’s room. He had defaulted to the classic Sunwoo fit: a huge black tee tucked into a pair of straight legged pants, black vans and a chunky chain hanging off his neck. “Change your top or something! We look like a couple!”</p><p>“Why don’t you change your top? This is my special blazer! You’re just wearing a grubby old t-shirt!” Not to mention Sunwoo was wearing some random offbrand piece on his neck while Eric was wearing <em> Chanel </em>.</p><p>“Don’t talk about FEAROFGOD like that!” Sunwoo exclaimed. So Eric hadn’t seen the fugly ‘FG’ logo in the center. He hadn’t put his contacts in yet, whatever. “Plus, if I wear black and spill my drink or food at the party there won’t be an obvious stain! I’ll still look sharp for Changmin- no, Chanhee!”</p><p>“You are a pig, you know that?” Eric replied.</p><p>“Don’t act like the all-black trick wasn’t the reason you got laid at that one Lambda party!”</p><p>“We do not speak of that one Lambda party anymore! Is that LYNX Gold?! Don’t spray that shit on yourself, it’s gonna get on me in the Uber! I can’t talk to Juyeon smelling like senior prom!”</p><p>“Woah, woah-”</p><p>“This is for both of our sakes! I guarantee you if Chanhee gets one whiff of you wearing that he’ll be running in the opposite direction!”</p><p>In the blink of an eye the aerosol can left Sunwoo’s hands, flying across Eric’s room. Eric and Sunwoo watched it make a beautiful arc and land next to Eric’s discarded pile of Twilight posters. It was a really short phase, okay?</p><p>“Do you think Chanhee and Changmin would be into a vampire and werewolf roleplay-” Sunwoo began.</p><p>“-Alright then!” Eric said loudly, fixing his eyebrow gel in the mirror one more time. “Ready to go?”</p><p> </p><p>In the end Eric decided to go without the t-shirt under his blazer. He only lived once, after all. In the Uber (which was actually a Lyft but, much like Kleenex and Purell, Uber had become the proprietary eponym of the rideshare business), Eric traced the small gift box in his pocket. It was an impulse buy that seemed cute at the time but he was beginning to have his doubts. Besides, his bigger problem was what he would even say to Juyeon when he saw him again.</p><p>Before Eric could overthink things, the taxi arrived in front of Kevin’s townhouse complex. They thanked their driver and dismounted, buzzing with nervous excitement. They both had their own objects of affection that they wanted to impress tonight.</p><p>“Wait, this is-” Sunwoo’s eyes grew wide as Eric led the way to Kevin’s specific unit. “Whose house is the party at again?”</p><p>“Kevin’s,” Eric replied. “He’s our-”</p><p>“Director!” Sunwoo answered. “Oh my god, this is where you guys film!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Eric said. “Don’t be weird about it, okay?”</p><p>“Don’t worry, I can be cool,” Sunwoo said, smoothing his shirt down. “Oh my god, Hyunjae propositioned Juyeon on this doorstep,” he mumbled to himself as Eric rolled his eyes and stepped up to ring the bell.</p><p>In a couple moments the door swung open to reveal Kevin. He was wearing a headband with a sprig of mistletoe attached at the top even though it wasn’t a Christmas party and a healthy asian glow. “Eric! Come on in! Fashionably late as always. And this must be your roommate!”</p><p>“Yeah, Sunwoo, this is Kevin, Kevin, Sunwoo.” Eric made introductions.</p><p>Kevin’s house had gone through another one of its incredible transformations, this time looking festive enough to make Mariah Carey proud. A cute half size Christmas tree sat in the corner, still decorated with lights and ornaments. Tinsel hung from the walls and in the living room right above the TV were gold balloon letters that spelled out 2 0 2 1. Gwen Stefani’s Christmas album played under the chatter of voices. Clearly Kevin had struggled to find specifically New Year’s themed holiday music but Eric was frankly shocked he hadn’t just defaulted to Beyonce. </p><p>“You can grab drinks and snacks from the kitchen counter!” Kevin said as he peeled off to chat with Haknyeon and Jacob.</p><p>“Chanhee and Changmin filmed their friends to lovers scene on that couch,” Sunwoo said under his breath, staring in awe as they passed through on the way to the kitchenette, which was divided from the living room by a small counter.</p><p>“I <em> told </em> you to be cool,” Eric muttered.</p><p>“And Hyunjae ate Juyeon out on this exact counter!” Sunwoo stage whispered when they got to the food and drinks.</p><p>“Don’t worry, it’s been thoroughly sanitized since then.” Eric replied. He tossed a glance back towards Kevin. “I hope.”</p><p>They collected their drink cups, the safety blanket of any party, and then joined everyone else mingling in the living room. A bolt of nerves crackled in his stomach as Eric finally saw Juyeon for the first time since their last wrap. He looked amazing as always, deep in conversation with Jacob. At some point tonight Eric would have to talk to him...</p><p>“Now that everyone is here, I just want to toast to us!” Kevin announced “You know much I love you guys, right?”</p><p>“Especially Jacob,” Eric heard Haknyeon mutter under his breath.</p><p>Kevin ignored the comment and raised his cup. “I’ll keep it short, but I’m thankful for each and every one of you. To our future in the new year!”</p><p>There was cheering and clapping as everyone toasted. </p><p>Chanhee began, “Don’t think we didn’t notice-”</p><p>“-That Jacob was already here when we got here at seven to help set up.” Changmin finished.</p><p>“Yeah, he stayed over last night,” Kevin said primly, looking awfully happy about things.</p><p>“And the night before that, and the night before that,” Jacob added.</p><p>“Everyone had already caught on so we didn’t feel like we needed to make a big announcement about it, but it’s official,” Kevin said as he looped his arms around Jacob’s waist.</p><p>“It has been for a while,” Jacob said, scrunching his face up at Kevin and giving the mistletoe hanging from his headband a flick. In accordance with tradition, he leaned in to give the director a smooch as well.</p><p>“Ugh, I guess I’m investing in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones for the New Year,” Eric said.</p><p>“So that brings singles count down by two in the office!” Chanhee crowed. He and Changmin scanned the room appraisingly. Younghoon and Hyunjae waved timidly from the corner to affirm their relationship.</p><p>“I’ve got my boyfriend in Korea,” Sangyeon reminded. “I saw him over the break.” Oh right, they were going on four years soon.</p><p>“Aw, commitment goals!” Chanhee cooed.</p><p>“And what about you Haknyeon?” Changmin continued the interrogation.</p><p>Haknyeon glowed. “I finally asked that girl from my pilates class out and she said yes! We’re having dinner next week.”</p><p>Kevin shrieked. “A HET!?”</p><p>Haknyeon rolled his eyes. “I’m bi. I thought there was no bisexual erasure in this workplace!”</p><p>“That’s right, no bisexual erasure!” Sunwoo chanted, the punch in his cup sloshing around. He managed to get everyone in the room to join in on the chant before things quieted down again. Eric was relieved that his roommate was fitting right in.</p><p>Then Chanhee and Changmin turned on Eric (and Sunwoo, who was standing next to him) and narrowed their eyes. Eric tried his best to look at anything else. “What about you two?”</p><p>“Him?!”</p><p>“<em> Him?!” </em></p><p>It was hard to judge who sounded more offended at the insinuation, Eric or Sunwoo.</p><p>“God, there is no way I would go near this unfortunate lump of flesh,” Eric gagged. “We’re just besties.”</p><p>“That’s my line!” Sunwoo retorted.</p><p>“Oh, we didn’t mean you two <em> together </em>,” Chanhee purred. “But it’s good information to know, I suppose.“ He and Changmin exchanged a meaningful look.</p><p>“So...”</p><p>“...That just leaves Eric-”</p><p>“-And Juyeon.”</p><p>“What a coincidence~”</p><p>Changmin looked at Sunwoo. “Sorry cutie, but you’re not part of the office so you don’t count.” Sunwoo spluttered.</p><p>Eric could care less about what Changmin was saying to Sunwoo at that moment. He was too busy trying to gauge Juyeon’s reaction from across the room. Juyeon turned his head and Eric tried to avert his gaze but it was too late, they made eye contact for one wide-eyed second before they both went back to looking anywhere else.</p><p>God, just as Eric had feared, now things were awkward between them. Things were never awkward between them!</p><p>Fortunately Chanhee and Changmin got sidetracked by Sunwoo, who was apparently very fascinating to them, and the talk of office singles ended there. Wanting to avoid Juyeon, Eric immediately latched onto the nearest conversation with Haknyeon and Younghoon about.. the accents in the latest Harry Potter porn they’d seen? Ok Britophile convention, pack it up. No wonder Hyunjae was just standing mutely next to Younghoon looking empty inside. To save the poor guy, Eric struck up a conversation with him instead. He had to admit, when he wasn’t fucking Juyeon on camera, Hyunjae was a cool dude.</p><p>The night deepened and Eric enjoyed the party despite being on edge the entire time trying to avoid Juyeon. He knew he would have to rip the band-aid off at some point, but he just wasn’t ready yet. And there was no way in hell he was resorting to liquid courage after last time. They played beer pong on the table Kevin had originally bought for a scene and did some karaoke on the tv. Sangyeon, Younghoon, and Haknyeon turned out to be a lethal trot singer trio and of course the whole studio took turns messing with the pitch adjustment when Kevin got on the coffee table to perform his rendition of Love on Top.</p><p>Finally karaoke began to wind down because it was nearing midnight. Eric wandered into the kitchenette to get a refill on punch. Watching the neon drink slush around in his cup, Eric took a deep breath. He hadn’t brought his dumb gift for nothing. He couldn’t just ignore Juyeon the whole evening. And honestly, it was getting pretty hard <em> not </em> to stare at the way Juyeon’s jeans hugged his thighs and alcohol reddened the bridge of his nose. In fact, Eric found himself staring right now. Eric sighed and tried to focus on anything else. He could see Sunwoo nervously but eagerly chatting up Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, sandwiched between them on the couch. </p><p>“You do arts and crafts as a hobby? Me too! I took art in high school freshman year cuz it was a requirement- What kind of arts and crafts do you like? ... B-beads? Y-you like playing with beads? ... Both of you do? Together? W-wow...”</p><p>Eric snorted to himself. His roommate was probably gonna end up going home with them tonight. At least one of them would get some dick-</p><p>“Hey.” The greeting took him out of his head. It was Juyeon. Eric almost jumped out of his skin.</p><p>“Hey,” Eric replied, taking great care to keep his voice level.</p><p>“I haven’t seen much of you tonight.” Yeah, that was on purpose.</p><p>“Ha... Um, about what Chanhee and Changmin were saying earlier..”</p><p>“You know they’re just like that,” Juyeon waved it off. “Just forget it.”</p><p>“Yeah, haha, of course.”</p><p>Juyeon leaned against the counter. “How were your holidays?”</p><p>Eric pasted a smile on his face. So they were ignoring what happened a couple weeks ago. Okay, he could do that. “They were nice. I went down to OC for a couple days and spent it with the fam. Mostly sat around on my ass bingeing kdramas.”</p><p>“That sounds great! I saw my family in Korea as well. My mom was glued to the couch the whole week watching Crash Landing On You. You would have fit right in!”</p><p>“Yeah? I barely even remember Christmas in Korea anymore. Did it snow?” The gift box was practically burning a hole through Eric’s pocket at this point.</p><p>“It did! Not enough to go out and build a snowman, but we did have a white christmas-”</p><p>“Juyeon,” Eric blurted. “Before the clock strikes midnight and things get <em> too </em> crazy, uh, I got you something.” He pushed the small gift into Juyeon’s hands. “Like a late Christmas present or something. Sorry if it’s weird or too much, I just saw it while I was shopping for the fam and couldn’t stop myself..”</p><p>“Oh, can I open it now-?”</p><p>“Open it now! It’s nothing big,” Eric said anxiously.</p><p>Juyeon untied the ribbon Eric had sloppily fastened and opened the box. A spark of recognition registered in his eyes and his mouth parted slightly. He lifted the gift out of the box to examine it: a little black enamel cat keychain.</p><p>“You know, since you said you lost the one your mom gave you..”</p><p>“Yeah,” Juyeon replied a little breathlessly. “Wow, Youngjae- thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything. I.. I can’t believe you even remembered that, to be honest.”</p><p>Eric gave a too loud laugh. “Of course I remembered, I wasn’t <em> that </em> drunk! I- remember everything,” Eric finished slowly, realizing what he was saying.</p><p>Juyeon cleared his throat and then corrected himself with a stunted chuckle. “Yeah?”</p><p>Eric nodded. “Yeah,” he confirmed quietly, looking anywhere but Juyeon.</p><p>“Youngjae...” Juyeon began. He took a step closer. Eric’s heart started racing. He could feel it in his chest, his hands, behind his eyes.</p><p>“Y’all!” Kevin shouted. Eric and Juyeon jerked apart as all eyes turned to Kevin, who stepped on top of the coffee table with his cup raised. “The countdown’s starting!” He didn’t totter as he spoke, but it was a near thing. Chanhee surreptitiously nudged his purse until it was out of the splash zone of Kevin’s cup. “Sixty seconds!”</p><p>“59, 58, 57!” Everyone began counting down. Eric scanned the room of faces, meeting all of his friends’ smiling gazes. The excitement they shared was palpable. Eric reflected on the year that he’d spent with the studio. When he actually thought about it, he’d accomplished a lot. <em> They </em> had accomplished a lot, the whole studio, together.</p><p>40, 39, 38...</p><p>Eric found himself and Juyeon drifting closer and closer together as the countdown continued.</p><p>20, 19, 18...</p><p>He locked eyes with Juyeon and Juyeon gave a small, loose lipped smile.</p><p>10, 9, 8...</p><p>The sense of anticipation was clearly swelling inside the packed living room, but Eric couldn’t tear his gaze away from Juyeon. </p><p>3, 2, 1-</p><p>"Happy New Year!" The entire party cheered. Eric broke eye contact with Juyeon to look around the room at the ragtag bunch that he realized he felt lucky to call colleagues. On the couch, Kevin wasted no time in looping Jacob in for a kiss, sticking his tongue down the actor's throat like there was no tomorrow. Jacob happily reciprocated. Changmin was giving Chanhee a sloppy kiss to the cheek, more slobber than finesse, while Sunwoo watched on with a mix of horror, awe, and arousal in his eyes. Even Hyunjae, after nervously flitting his eyes around the room for a few moments, gently pressed his lips to Younghoon's as the pair clutched their laced fingers tightly together. Eric swore that there was honey dripping out of Younghoon's eyes.</p><p>Haknyeon had his date with the pilates hottie and Sangyeon had his long distance boyfriend in Korea... everyone was loved up except for Eric. Eric turned to find Juyeon still looking at him, a strange mix of emotions swirling under the surface of his handsome face. Eric started to try to decode whatever was behind Juyeon’s eyes at that moment, but he was too distracted by the rest of the party cheering on Kevin and Jacob as they put on a show on the couch. At some point Kevin dragged himself off Jacob and grabbed his cup, thrusting it into the middle of the living room.</p><p>“Cheers!” Eric heard Kevin’s voice as if from underwater.</p><p>“Cheers!”</p><p>“Happy New Year!”</p><p>“Here’s to another year!”</p><p>“Eric, where’s your cup?”</p><p>Finally Eric broke out of his stupor, a lightning bolt of clarity crackling through him. It was the holidays and everyone he knew was in love, why couldn’t he shoot his shot too?</p><p>“You know what, fuck it!” Eric exclaimed, pulling Juyeon in by the collar, ignoring the drink spilling out of Juyeon’s cup, and planting his mouth on Juyeon’s like it was the most important kiss of his life. Actually, it was.</p><p>Juyeon froze against Eric, red cup completely crushed in his grip now, and in the dreadful seconds following Eric’s bold move he felt the pit of his stomach drop in chilling regret- but then Juyeon recovered from his shock, whimpering and leaning into the kiss. His cup dropped to the floor as he enveloped Eric’s waist with his huge porn actor hands. It felt just like all of Eric’s hopes and dreams.</p><p>In the two seconds between Eric initiating and Juyeon reciprocating, the kiss shifted from sloppy to panicked to romantic- and now it was firmly settling somewhere in the vicinity of heated, heading towards desperate. Eric lapped across Juyeon’s bottom lip and Juyeon’s lips parted immediately, leaning back against the counter and pulling Eric against him. Eric planted his hands on the counter around Juyeon’s hips and got on his tip-toes, licking into Juyeon’s mouth like no tomorrow.</p><p>There was imagination, and there were dozens on dozens of hours of footage of Juyeon’s naked body available for access with a single click subscription, and then there was <em> feeling </em> the real thing. And even through however many layers of clothing, the real thing felt fucking amazing. The heat radiating off Juyeon’s broad chest, his plush lips slick and supple and enveloping Eric’s tongue, his well clipped fingers digging into Eric’s hipbones hard enough to bruise- Eric could feel everything that he’d never been able to merely see with his eyes, and he couldn’t get enough of it. And judging by the soft gasps he was making into Eric’s mouth, neither could Juyeon.</p><p>Juyeon hopped up onto the counter without breaking the kiss and Eric felt firm thighs bracket his waist as Juyeon locked his ankles behind Eric’s legs.</p><p>“Someone stop them before they recreate the Thanksgiving scene!”</p><p>That brought Eric to his senses, and apparently did the same for Juyeon because they broke apart, a long thread of glittering spit stretching and snapping lewdly between them, and turned to look glazed eyed at their audience in the living room. Their audience, who were hollering and cat-calling and waving the couch cushions above their heads.</p><p>“About time,” Younghoon rolled his eyes.</p><p>“That’s my fucking boy!” Sunwoo cheered.</p><p>“If you’re not shooting a scene, go defile your own kitchen!” (From Kevin, obviously.)</p><p>Making the executive decision that anyone who wasn’t Juyeon was far from important right now, Eric turned his eyes back to the man in his arms. “I like you.” Eric huffed, gaze traveling all over Juyeon’s flushed face. “If you hadn’t gotten that by now.”</p><p>“Thank god. After I dropped you off a couple weeks ago I was worried that you were just saying things you didn’t mean.”</p><p>Eric pouted. “I meant it. You didn’t believe me.”</p><p>Juyeon smiled sweetly. “I was scared. But I believe you now.” He leaned back in to give Eric a soft peck before nibbling up his jaw, heading towards his ear.</p><p>Eric felt himself going cross eyed in adoration. “I believe you have something to say to me too?” He giggled as Juyeon traced his helix piercing with his tongue. “That tickles!”</p><p>Juyeon pulled away looking very self-satisfied. “I like you too, Youngjae. I’m sorry I didn’t get you a Christmas present, but maybe I can make up for that..?”</p><p>Eric kissed Juyeon before he pulled back and started to ask “Like how-” but before he could complete his question, Juyeon put two hands on Eric’s lapels and yanked him into a searing kiss, pretty much answering him.</p><p>“Woah- woah! Proposition each other in your <em> own apartments </em> please!” Kevin squawked. “Where’s my megaphone when I need it?!”</p><p>Eric was frankly enjoying the anxiety Kevin was apparently getting out of this, considering the number of times Kevin and Jacob had terrorized the entire office from behind the thin closed door of Kevin’s office, but he wasn’t willing to actually strip down and fuck in front of his coworkers. He wasn’t a porn actor after all. Breaking sorrowfully away from the lips he was going to spend the rest of his life worshipping, he breathed raggedly, “Kev has a point.”</p><p>Juyeon wilted, looking like a wet cat. Eric cooed. Oh my god, how could sexy be so cute? Or was it the other way around? How could cute be so sexy?</p><p>“Hey Eric!” Changmin snapped at him to get his attention.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“Changmin and I are gonna borrow Sunwoo for the night, so you’re free to use your place,” Chanhee said with a wolfish grin. Sunwoo gave Eric a shaky thumbs up, nearly vibrating with nervous horny energy.</p><p>Eric would have laughed or jeered or done anything to recognize his roommate successfully ending his celibacy if he wasn’t currently tied up with the man of his dreams. Instead he turned to check Juyeon’s reaction.</p><p>Juyeon simply raised his eyebrows. “Sounds good to me.”</p><p>“It’s not moving too fast?” Eric protested. “I mean just because you’re a porn star doesn’t mean I’m expecting anything!”</p><p>“Youngjae, you’re so sweet.” Juyeon said. “But I’ve been wanting you to fuck me since like, the third script of yours that I read.”</p><p>Eric swallowed. “I’ll call the Uber for two. No pool option.”</p><p>They got out of Kevin’s place fast after that. In Eric’s opinion, the host seemed very relieved to see them go.</p><p>Once they got out into the crisp air, bangs of appropriately celebratory fireworks resounding from every direction, Eric turned to Juyeon. “So hyung, um, what did you have in mind tonight?” He knew that it was only Juyeon, his favorite hyung, but he was about to sleep with a man who has sex for a <em> living </em>. Sue him, he was a little nervous.</p><p>Juyeon fixed Eric with a gaze so sizzling that must have come right out of a porno. Eric was struck with the sudden realization of everything he was getting into. And he found that he didn’t mind at all.</p><p>“You know me,” Juyeon said, “I’m open to anything you’re willing to imagine.”</p><p>Eric couldn’t have come up with a better line.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Happy New Year everyone! wow... this was supposed to be like 7.5k and it turned into... the longest completed work i’ve written. even tho i ran into some writers block along the way, this fic was super fun to write. im so sorry it took me (waaaay) longer than anticipated to finish but i hope that you feel the wait was worth it! There might be a milbbang spinoff fic in the future detailing exactly what went down the night that younghoon stayed behind because i have something specific in mind and they werent really resolved in this fic since it was only from eric's pov</p><p>btw the outfit eric wore to the new year’s party was his 190917 look, which he repeated when he ate with his mom and juyeon at lotte tower! his hot girl shit outfit clearly.</p><p>please let me know what you think! hopefully 2021 is better to all of us : )</p><p>milbbang sidefic is <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30097467">here!!</a></p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p> </p><p>  <a href="https://curiouscat.qa/tomatojuicee">CC!</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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